Skip to content


The New Face of Non-compete Agreements

The Internet has changed the face of Non-Compete Agreements. Allowing businesses broader, faster reach, The Internet has increased Non-Compete Agreements geographically and decreased them temporally. It used to be that Non-Compete Agreements were limited to a very narrow geographic region, but were allowed to cover a rather substantial period of time. As the Internet has increased customer reach, however, courts are allowing business to define their protectable territory more broadly. In return courts are restricting the time they will allow such broad geographic restrictions to remain in place, given the breakneck speed of online commerce.

So just what do Iowa courts look at when assessing the validity or invalidity of non-compete agreements?

1. Is it necessary for the protection of the employer’s business?

2. Is the non-compete unreasonably restrictive of the employee’s rights?

3. Is the non-compete prejudicial to the public interest?

If these factors are not addressed in your non-compete agreement, you may not have a non-compete agreement at all.

Brett Trout

Related posts

Posted in General. Tagged with , .