Seagate Says Ex-Employee Can't Work For Competitor

deweller writes "According to a story at MacCentral, Hard drive maker Seagate Technology LLC is seeking a court injunction to prevent a former employee, Pete Goglia, from going to work for Western Digital Corp. any time in the next 2 years, saying Goglia knows too much about Seagate's hard-drive reading and writing technology to work for a competitor."

Comments

Re:Non-Competes....

[fiannaFailMan]

The worker is free to take a job that doesn't compete with the original.

I don't mean this in a snotty way, but, a job like what? Flipping burgers at McDonalds? The old "you're free to work somewhere else" argument has been used to justify everything from this sort of thing to racial and sectarian discrimination. It's no defence.

Moreover, If we set a precedent where nobody can work for a competitor then we're getting into dangerous territory. If people are suddenly prevented from using the skills that they have acquired then we get a whole lot of wasted talent, a whole lot of people unable to get as high-paying a job as they had before, and a system close to collapse.

Re:Strange...

[DeputySpade]

Oh, dear! Oh, dear! The sky is falling, the sky is falling!

I dont' know what planet you live on, but there are plenty of jobs available for the taking here on Earth. In fact, the very nature of this story indicates that the subject was able to find a new job upon leaving his old one. Heck. It was even in his very narrow chosen career field. I've personally turned down more than one job offer because I couldn't come to terms with the company's lawyer(s) over contract terms. I'm currently employed and doing just fine under very agreeable contract terms and still doing what I love.