One thing that folks seem to forget about noncompetes, is that there are already (and have been, for decades), laws on the books, covering theft of services, industrial espionage, etc.
These aren’t “We’ll sue you!” laws. They’re “You’re getting a cell, dude!” laws. They also cover the new employer, who would solicit and use this information.
It’s just that proving that an engineer who went to a competitor, then provided privileged information, is difficult, expensive, and time-consuming.
It’s much easier to just prevent the employee from going to a company, where they could casually reveal the information, and the new company could dilute it, making it harder to prove they got it.
And, one way to avoid a lot of these problems, is to simply pay your employees well, and treat them with respect, so they aren’t tempted to head for greener pastures.
That seems to be too big an ask, for most corporations.
These aren’t “We’ll sue you!” laws. They’re “You’re getting a cell, dude!” laws. They also cover the new employer, who would solicit and use this information.
It’s just that proving that an engineer who went to a competitor, then provided privileged information, is difficult, expensive, and time-consuming.
It’s much easier to just prevent the employee from going to a company, where they could casually reveal the information, and the new company could dilute it, making it harder to prove they got it.
And, one way to avoid a lot of these problems, is to simply pay your employees well, and treat them with respect, so they aren’t tempted to head for greener pastures.
That seems to be too big an ask, for most corporations.