Mr. Dick sticking it to Trying to make a living Day 245

The courts in the State that Mr. Dick has his business have consistently ruled that competition is not a protectable business interest even if said competition is intentional. The law of the particular State rules that for a non-compete agreement to be enforceable there must be a "legitimate business interest" to protect. Trade secrets, intellectual property, client lists can form a legitimate business interest.

The amazing thing about Mr. Dick's contention is he has publicly said himself that the industry he is in has such a "low barrier to entry" that he needs a non-compete agreement to protect his business. Seems that a low barrier to entry would suggest there is very little legitimate business interest to protect. But wait here is the best part if you go to Mr. Dick's website you will find his client list, he actually uses his client list in his business and therefore the client list is public information as Mr. Dick has made it PUBLIC INFORMATION. Now let's make it clear that Trying to make a living has no interest in any of Mr. Dick's clients, nor has Trying to make a living done any comptetitive business with Mr. Dick's clients. The fact that Mr. Dick's client list is public information means that it is not TRADE SECRETS or even protected information as Mr. Dick is more than willing to tell the world who his clients are. Lets now look at the restrictive covenant once again:

“Employee agrees that during the term of this agreement and for a period of 24 months from and after the date of termination for any reason of this agreement (the restriction period), he will not directly or indirectly, own, manage, operate, join, control, be employed by, be engaged on an independent contractor basis, or participate in the ownership, management operation, or control of, or be connected or affiliated in any manner with any individual, corporation, partnership, or any other entity, that is engaged in business directly or indirectly competitive to the then existing or COMTEMPLATED business of the company within the United States (which shall be the restricted area) Employee further agrees he shall not in any fashion, form or manner; either directly or indirectly, solicits the customer’s or PROSPECTIVE customers for employee’s own account or on the behalf of any individual or entity during the restricted period.

No former employees (and there are many former employees, does that surprise you?) of Mr. Dick are interested in soliciting or doing business with Mr. Dick's existing clients (more on this in the days ahead). Trying to make a living is simply trying to make a living. Mr. Dick seems intent on the personal destruction of Trying to make a living and no other purpose as Mr. Dick has no legitimate business interest to protect with the restrictive covenant above.