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Massachusetts Laws About Noncompetition or Non-compete Agreements
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The following laws prohibit noncompetition
agreements for certain professions:
Boulanger v. Dunkin' Donuts, Inc., 442 Mass.
635 (2004) Under the circumstances, "covenants not to compete signed by the
plaintiff as part of his
franchise agreements with the defendant were enforceable."
Marine Contractors Co., Inc. v. Hurley, 365
Mass. 280 (1974) "Agreement not to compete with Marine was reasonable in time
and space."
All Stainless, Inc. v. Colby, 364 Mass. 773
(1974) "A covenant not to compete contained in a contract for personal services
will be enforced if it is reasonable, based on all the circumstances."
Richmond Brothers, Inc. v. Westinghouse Broadcasting
Co., Inc., 357 Mass. 106 (1970) An employer is not entitled to
protection against ordinary competition.
Novelty Bias Binding Co. v. Shevrin, 342
Mass. 714 (1961) "It has been long settled in this Commonwealth that a covenant
inserted in a contract for personal service restricting trade or competition or
freedom of employment is not invalid and may be enforced in equity provided it
is necessary for the protection of the employer, is reasonably limited in time
and space, and is consonant with the public interest. What is reasonable depends
on the facts in each case."
New England Tree Expert Co., Inc. v. Russell,
306 Mass. 504 (1940) " It is settled in this Commonwealth that such contracts
are divisible and will not be enforced as to any parts of the covenant that are
not reasonably necessary for the protection of the good will of the employer's
business.""What is reasonable depends upon the facts in each case"
Toomey Legal, Boston employment law firm with lawyers focusing on Massachusetts non-compete agreement, non-solicit agreement, non-disclosure agreement and trade secret disputes.
An Act to Prohibit Restrictive Employment Covenants,
Caroline Huang in consultation with Rep. Will Brownsberger. Provides information
on a proposed bill prohibiting noncompetes, and links to absolutely everything
there is to find on the topic in Massachusetts. Great resource!
“Critics
blast bill banning non-compete agreements,” by David E. Frank.
Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly, January 26, 2009.
“Economy
likely to force changes to noncompete pacts,” by Mary Pratt. Boston
Business Journal, March 6, 2009.
“Employee
Noncompetition Agreements: Recent Developments and Trends,” by
Laurence H. Reese III, Massachusetts Law Review, 2003.
An Explanation on Covenants Not to Compete in
Massachusetts, Mass. Secretary of the Commonwealth, Citizen
Information Service.
Fair Competition Law, Beck Reed Riden LLP.
The focus here is broader than just noncompetition, and includes trade secrets,
privacy and security, intellectual property and unfair competition. It is also
not specific to Massachusetts, but provides substantive resources on the topic,
including 50-state surveys.
Massachusetts Noncompete Law Blog, Foley Hoag. "[F]ocuses on
developments in Massachusetts in the areas of covenants not to compete,
non-solicitation and non-disclosure agreements, trade secrets and the many
related issues that arise when employees move between employers."
Non-Compete Agreements: A Proposal for Fairness and
Predictability, Kevin G. Powers and Linda Evans. "This article
criticizes non-compete agreements as overly-restrictive and their enforcement as
unpredictable. The authors argue that non-competes should be presumptively
invalid, thereby compelling judicial refinement of protectable information and
synchronizing the law with economic developments."
Non-Compete Clause: Massachusetts,
Wikipedia. This is wikipedia, so use with great caution and be sure to validate
what you read by going directly to the cited references. Despite the disclaimer,
we've included this because it provides a clear summary of Mass. law with
extensive references to case law.
“Non-compete
clauses may be making us non-competitive,” by Scott Kirsner, The
Boston Globe, January 19, 2009.
Effective advocacy: severance and noncompete
agreements: a practical demonstration of techniques that work, MCLE,
2004. Also available on
Audio CD-ROM.
Making and breaking noncompete agreements,
Mass. Bar Institute, 2006.