http://venturebeat.disqus.com/News about Tech, Business and InnovationenFri, 08 Aug 2008 20:02:19 -0000http://venturebeat.com/2008/08/08/california-supreme-court-says-noncompete-agreements-are-illegal/#comment-1140891<p>To be clear - the Supreme Court reaffirmed a long line of California decisions outlawing noncompete provisions.</p><p>The challenge is that California is well outside the mainstream on this. In most other states noncompetes are taken for granted. Nation-wide businesses struggle to come up with noncompete terms that will hold up in California as well as the rest of the country.</p><p>The Anderson case was in the latter category- a so called "narrow restraint" that Anderson hoped it could slip past the California courts. No such luck.</p><p>California *does* allow employers to prevent former employees using the employer's confidential information in the service of a new company. That is likely what the Tokuda/Shen case was about.</p><p>And last, please see (and support) Bijan Sabet's (<a href="http://bijansabet.com" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" title="bijansabet.com">bijansabet.com</a>) campaign to get Massachusetts and other states to follow the California rule. As long as we don't steal company secrets we should be able to work for whomever we want.</p>Jay ParkhillFri, 08 Aug 2008 20:02:19 -0000