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Non-Compete Agreements › Business & Professions Code

Non-Compete Agreements are contracts, typically formed in employment or business purchase contexts, where one party agrees to refrain from engaging in a particular line of work or pursuing business within a... more +
Non-Compete Agreements are contracts, typically formed in employment or business purchase contexts, where one party agrees to refrain from engaging in a particular line of work or pursuing business within a certain industry or locale. The purpose of these agreements is to protect employers or business purchasers from competition stemming from former employees or former owners of a business. less -
Stokes Wagner

Employers Must Notify California Employees of Void Non-Competes

Stokes Wagner on

California is not spreading the love to employers this Valentine’s Day. Employers’ deadline to give their California employees a notice that any non-compete agreements are void was February 14, 2024. Employers who fail to...more

Miller Canfield

California’s Valentine’s Day Gift to Employers: More Non-Competition Restrictions and Obligations

Miller Canfield on

In October 2023, California’s Governor signed Assembly Bill (AB) 1076 making it unlawful to impose non-compete clauses on employees. The non-compete statute now makes clear that, when California law applies, almost all...more

Holland & Knight LLP

California Noncompete Regulation Requires Employer Action by Feb. 14, 2024

Holland & Knight LLP on

California Business and Professions Code Section 16600 was recently amended to "void the application of any noncompete agreement in an employment context, or any noncompete clause in an employment contract, no matter how...more

Ervin Cohen & Jessup LLP

Happy Valentine’s Day! A Reminder that Employers Must Notify Employees of Void Non-Compete Clauses and Agreements by February 14,...

Ervin Cohen & Jessup LLP on

As part of a focused effort by the California Legislature to protect employees from unenforceable non-compete clauses and agreements and increase fair competition among employers in 2024, Assembly Bill 1076 enacted Business...more

Goodwin

New Laws Reinforce California’s Hostility to Non-Competes with Notice Obligations and Civil Penalties

Goodwin on

California recently enacted two bills — SB 699 and AB 1076 — amending and adding to Section 16600 of the California Business and Professions Code to broaden the scope of California’s already expansive prohibitions on...more

Benesch

Trade Secrets/Non-Compete Year in Review - 2023

Benesch on

Welcome to our 2023 Trade Secret and Restrictive Covenant Year in Review. 2023 was a busy year in this space, but not as busy as many expected. Although multiple states introduced restrictive covenant legislation, the most...more

Latham & Watkins LLP

Important Changes to California Non-Compete Laws to Take Effect in January 2024

Latham & Watkins LLP on

Employers should take stock of restrictive covenant agreements that their current and former workforce have signed and which remain in effect. California recently passed two laws amending Section 16600 of the California...more

WilmerHale

New California Non-Compete Laws Add Teeth to State’s Non-Competition Prohibition

WilmerHale on

2023 has seen its fair share of headlines with respect to developments in non-competition law: in January, the Federal Trade Commission proposed a rule that would ban most non-competes; in May, the National Labor Relations...more

Ervin Cohen & Jessup LLP

California Enacts Additional Restrictions on Employer Noncompete Agreements

Ervin Cohen & Jessup LLP on

The California Legislature has sought in recent years to expand the rights of employees in nearly every facet of business in California. Employer restrictions on an employee’s ability to work in the same industry after...more

Holland & Knight LLP

California's New Nationwide Focus on Noncompetition Agreements

Holland & Knight LLP on

For decades, California has taken arguably the most pro-employee-mobility position on noncompetition and non-solicitation agreements in the country – generally, post-employment noncompetition and non-solicitation agreements...more

Ervin Cohen & Jessup LLP

­California Opens its Doors to Commerce by Voiding Out-Of-State Non-Compete Agreements

Ervin Cohen & Jessup LLP on

You may have heard the half-serious joke that California acts as its own independent country. One example of this is California’s strong disfavor of non-compete agreements, which stands in contrast with the rest of the...more

Foley & Lardner LLP

New Legislation Extends California Noncompete Ban to Agreements Signed Outside the Golden State and May Impose Notice Obligations...

Foley & Lardner LLP on

As we’ve previously written, California already takes a strong position against employee noncompete agreements. State law bans such agreements (with extremely limited exception) and imposes significant penalties on employers...more

Allen Matkins

Bill Would Authorize Disbarment Of Attorneys Who Enter Into Non-Competes With Their Employees

Allen Matkins on

California lawyers are well aware of this state disfavors covenants not to compete.  California Senator Kevin McCarty would like to increase the level of hostility by adding a provision to the Business & Professions Code...more

Allen Matkins

Court Of Appeal Affirms Enforceability Of Post-Termination Solicitation Ban In Employment Agreement

Allen Matkins on

California is famously hostile to covenants not to compete.   In fact, Section 16600 of the California Business & Professions Code provides "Except as provided in this chapter, every contract by which anyone is restrained...more

Payne & Fears

Key California Employment Law Cases: November 2020

Payne & Fears on

Semprini v. Wedbush Securities., Inc., 57 Cal. App. 5th 246 (2020) - Summary: A compensation plan based solely on commissions, with recoverable advances on future commissions, does not qualify as “salary” for purposes of...more

Lewitt Hackman

Franchisor 101: Taking the Red Pill on Non-Competes

Lewitt Hackman on

Franchisors and franchisees in California have long conducted themselves based on precedent that voids post-termination covenants against competition in a franchise agreement in California. Recently, a franchisor’s ability to...more

Seyfarth Shaw LLP

California Supreme Court Clarifies Pleading Requirements for Claims of Tortious Interference with At-Will Contracts and Adopts...

Seyfarth Shaw LLP on

Called upon by the Ninth Circuit in Ixchel Pharma, LLC v. Biogen, Inc. to answer two key questions concerning the validity of a settlement provision requiring a party’s termination of a collaboration agreement with a...more

Epstein Becker & Green

California Supreme Court Applies Rule of Reason Test for “Business Only” Restrictive Covenants

Epstein Becker & Green on

In Ixchel Pharma, LLC v. Biogen, Inc., 20 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 7729, __ P.3d __(August 3, 2020), the California Supreme Court made it easier for businesses to enforce restrictive covenants against other businesses. This...more

Orrick - Trade Secrets Group

The California Supreme Court Clarifies Section 16600 as Applied to Business Contracts and Holds That an Independently Wrongful Act...

Orrick - Trade Secrets Group on

The most powerful tool capable of invalidating competitive restraints under California law is Business and Professions Code section 16600. That statute states that “[e]very contract by which anyone is restrained from...more

Proskauer - California Employment Law

Agreement Not To Compete With Employer While Still Employed Is Enforceable

Proskauer - California Employment Law on

Techno Lite, Inc. v. Emcod, LLC, 44 Cal. App. 5th 462 (2020) - Techno Lite employees Scott Drucker and Arik Nirenberg entered into an agreement with Techno Lite not to compete with Techno Lite while they were still...more

Lewitt Hackman

Employers, in case you were wondering, your employees cannot compete with you

Lewitt Hackman on

Many California laws seek to restrict the terms and conditions an employer may place on an employee during employment. Tuesday, the California Court of Appeal confirmed that Business and Professions Code Section 16600 is not...more

Allen Matkins

Mirabile Dictu! Court Finds No Per Se Application Of Non-Compete Ban

Allen Matkins on

California Business & Professions Code Section 16600 declares void "every contract by which anyone is restrained from engaging in a lawful profession, trade, or business of any kind". The California Supreme Court famously...more

Orrick - Trade Secrets Group

Does California’s Ban on Non-Competes Apply to Business Agreements? The California Supreme Court May Weigh In Shortly.

Orrick - Trade Secrets Group on

The Ninth Circuit recently certified a question to the California Supreme Court regarding the scope of California Business & Professions Code Section 16600. As TSW readers are likely aware, Section 16600 states that “[e]very...more

Weintraub Tobin

Ninth Circuit Inquiry On Non-Competes Could Have Huge Implications

Weintraub Tobin on

The Ninth Circuit recently asked the California Supreme Court to provide it with guidance concerning certain types of non-compete provisions that could have huge ramifications for California’s business environment. In...more

Dorsey & Whitney LLP

Multistate Non-solicitation Agreements: Does One Size Fit All?

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Many employers have offices in multiple states, but want to have one form of employee agreement prohibiting solicitation of employees and customers. Since some state laws, namely California, may be too different to reconcile...more

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