Employment And Privacy Issues In Non-Competition Agreements

The mobility of employees in today's global economy, and the ease with which electronic data can be moved and copied, make it essential for employers and employees to understand whether non-competition agreements will be enforced in jurisdictions around the world. Preventing an employee from joining a competitor is a key element in a company's corporate security program. In this article, attorneys with Morrison & Foerster review the complexities of non-competition agreements and the difficulties of enforcing injunctions across jurisdictional lines.

Enforcing Non-Competition Agreements in the Global Economy: United States and European Union Law Compared and Contrasted

The ease with which employees move between jurisdictions in today's global economy, combined with the ease with which electronic data can be copied and moved, make it essential for employers and employees alike to understand whether non-competition agreements1 will be enforced in jurisdictions around the world. To illustrate, our firm recently filed a non-competition lawsuit against several former employees of our client, a fenetics research company headquartered in Iceland2. The individuals were citizens of Scotland, Slovenia, the United States and Iceland who relocated to Iceland to work for our client. When they left Iceland to establish an allegedly competitive enterprise in the United States, our client's lawsuit seeking enforcement of its non-competition agreements raised a myriad of multi-jurisdictional considerations.

Data security, both of personal information and of confidential business information, is crucial for all organizations. However, some organizations, while focusing on the technological aspects of data protection, often neglect the most critical components of any data security...

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