Regardless of how this turns out, I am not a fan of employers insisting on non-compete agreements and preventing you from working for a competitor or starting your own competing company after your employment ends for any reason.
Permitting workers to change companies and/or start their own companies is how a competitive labor market is supposed to work. Worse, non-compete agreements make it hard for employees to find work in their field after being laid off.
Imagine if I were to insist, as a condition of accepting employment, that in the case that my employment ends for any reason my employer refrain from entering into any new work agreements with other professionals in my field, for a period of at least two years. That would get nowhere fast, but of course it's the same sort of non-compete agreement that employers are requiring for employees.
If there's a patent or trade secret issue, sue on that basis. Don't artificially restrict the labor market.
Permitting workers to change companies and/or start their own companies is how a competitive labor market is supposed to work. Worse, non-compete agreements make it hard for employees to find work in their field after being laid off.
Imagine if I were to insist, as a condition of accepting employment, that in the case that my employment ends for any reason my employer refrain from entering into any new work agreements with other professionals in my field, for a period of at least two years. That would get nowhere fast, but of course it's the same sort of non-compete agreement that employers are requiring for employees.
If there's a patent or trade secret issue, sue on that basis. Don't artificially restrict the labor market.