Can a “Friend Request,” a “Like,” or a New Job Announcement on LinkedIn Violate A Non-Solicitation Agreement?

The courts around the country seem to agree that the more “passive” the social media activity is, the less likely it is to constitute a prohibited solicitation of customers or employees, and the more “active” the posts are or the more akin they are to oral solicitations, the more likely they are to violate non-solicitation prohibitions. In this post, I take a closer look at the various decisions from across the country and synthesize common themes. 

The Fifth Circuit Rules Industry-Wide Noncompete Agreements Are Not Enforceable

The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals recently considered whether a travel agency’s noncompete agreement with its employee was enforceable under Texas law.  It concluded that because the agreement did not have geographic limits, was not limited to the travel agency’s customers with whom the employee actually worked during her employment, and included entire travel agency industry, the non-compete was unenforceable.

Special Rules for Non-Solicitation Agreements in the Financial Services Industry

The financial services industry has its own set of rules when it comes to enforcement of non-solicitation agreements. In 2004, a handful of the largest financial firms signed a document called Protocol for Broker Recruiting. Since then, over a 1,000 firms became signatories to the Protocol, agreeing to abide by the rules that are meant to curtail non-solicitation litigation among competing firms.

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