Reminder – Non-competes are ENFORCEABLE

In this down economy, companies look to shore up what they have – including protecting their IP and going after what they see as unfair competition.  As a result, there is more litigation over non-compete clauses in employment contracts.  So, employees out there: Beware.  I hear a lot of you say to me at parties and other places – I have a non-compete, but it is not enforceable.  While that may be true in certain cases IN CALIFORNIA, we are in OHIO.  OHIO and virtually EVERY OTHER STATE enforce them.  It is also true that if it is written too broadly, say, perhaps saying that you can’t work in any state  in the union for 50 years, then the court won’t enforce it so broadly.  BUT it will generally enforce it TO SOME REASONABLE EXTENT.  That might mean, say 50 miles and 2 years – or something else entirely.  How far and for how long it is enforced will depend entirely on the industry.  Hairdressers might have a more limited enforceable radius than, say, computer sales folks. 

For all my friends out there, just be careful.  Please.

Blog by Attorney for Photographers

Here’s an interesting blog on photographer’s rights.  I get a lot of questions about this issue, and you do have to be careful about how the law applies in Ohio (which the linked blog does not address), but this site gives an idea about some of the concerns that are out there.

http://www.photoattorney.com/

Free Database of IP Cases Since 2000 Courtesy of Stanford Law

Stanford Law Scool launched a database called the Stanford IP Litigation Clearinghouse, contianing real-time data summaries, industry indices, and trend analysis, along with a full-text search engine of over 23, 000 IP litigation cases filed in district courts since 2000.   See http://lexmachina.standford.edu

Nod to the Dayton Intellectual Property Law Association for the info.