Non-Competes in the NYLJ

In today’s NYLJ, Stephen Kramarsky writes about “IBM’s Hard Lesson in Non-Competes” (subscription required).  He discusses International Business Machines Corp. v. Visentin, a recent SDNY decision that denied IBM a preliminary injunction to enforce a non-compete very similar to one it had successfully enforced just a few years ago, demonstrating the difficulty of predicting the enforceability of a non-compete in NY.  

The article begins:

One of the hardest things to explain to a client (particularly a sophisticated business client) is that some contracts, no matter how carefully drafted and heavily negotiated, may simply be ignored when push comes to shove before a court. For technology lawyers, that conversation often takes place as the client tries to figure out how to retain its key employees or protect its trade secrets and intellectual property through a non-compete clause.

Definitely worth a read.

[Meredith R. Miller]