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I noticed that, right before I looked up Willie’s house on street view.Mildly annoyed that I paid for the complaint only to see it posted over at TheMat just as I was going to post it myself. I even redacted the personal addresses because it's not relevant to any of this, which I see wasn't done by whomever made it available at TheMat.
Thanks Tikk. I’m a practicing attorney, but these things aren’t my bailiwick, so I appreciate the detailed analysis. I’m very interested in defendant’s answerAs already seemed obvious, it's a suit seeking damages for Willie's alleged violation of the non-compete clause in his employment agreement. Flo claims that Willie downloaded from Flo and immediately began providing to Rokfin his same content--the examples Flo provides are Willie's rankings. Flo also cites Willie's tweet about "Who's #1" being his "from conception to execution" as an example of his alleged plan to continue misappropriating Flo's property.
The complaint also names Rokfin as a defendant and accuses it of tortious interference by inducing Willie to break his employment agreement and provide similar services to Rokfin.
I have a few thoughts because I think Flo is on shaky ground here. This isn't my area, and I don't really have an idea what a Texas court will do with it, but I do know that the trend, nationwide, is to view non-compete clauses skeptically and narrowly. Some states have banned them outright.
But before I get to non-competes, there's another issue lurking here. It's not immediately clear to me that a Texas court has jurisdiction overRokfin (a Wisconsin company) orWillie (a Pennsylvania resident). I'm not going to go entirely down the diversity jurisdiction rabbit hole but there's an argument that a federal court is the proper venue for this dispute, not Texas, even if the federal court would be deciding Texas law. [Edit to correct mistake about Rokfin's place of business]
On to non-competes. The issue of non-compete agreements arises here in the context of an injunction request, and the standard for obtaining injunctions is distinct from the ultimate underlying legal question of whether the defendant has violated his employment agreement. Flo must show that it has a "a probable right" to enforce the agreement; and that if not enforced, Flo will suffer a "probable, imminent, and irreparable injury" "for which [they] have no adequate legal remedy." This means that even if the court finds that the agreement is probably valid, if it was possible for Flo to calculate its damages (in terms of money), the injunction won't be granted. Some Texas courts ignore this imminent injury requirement, though.
As to the underlying issue of the agreement's enforcebability, Texas law, like most states and federal law, imposes a reasonableness standard, effectively limiting non-compete clauses as to (1) Time; (2) Geographic Area; and (3) Scope of Activity.
As for Time, Texas has found 1-2 year agreements reasonable, so that aspect of the agreement is uncontroversial.
As for geographic area, the non-compete language included in the complaint is interesting. It states that for one year after termination, a Flo employee won't compete "in the region and/or cities in which I am responsible for conducting business for the Company...", which the contract defines as the "Geographic Territory." It further prohibits the terminated employee from performing "the same or similar duties" as was performed at Flo (also within the "Geographic Territory").
Since Flo employees are responsible for "conducting business" in numerous cities beyond Austin, Flo's notion of "Geographic Territory" is pretty much everywhere on earth where wrestling might occur. Reasonable? Dicey.
As to the "scope of activity" consideration, it might be significant that the basis for the dispute is Willie's *rankings.* Even if a judge was predisposed to finding the non-compete otherwise valid, they might look sideways at the idea of enforcing it to the extent of prohibiting Willie from ranking wrestlers. Rankings aren't intrinsic to Flo, it's a core activity/service in every sport and as I said above, courts are wary of enforcing non-competes too broadly. That said, rankings are copyrightable, though just barely meeting the "originality" requirement as expressed in Feist v. Rural Telephone.
I've not looked at Texas case law on any of these prongs so the above is just reasonable guesses about what a judge might do if a judge exercised minimal skepticism about non-compete clauses. A non-curious judge might just look at the complaint and see that Willie reposted "his" rankings at Rokfin and be satisfied that there's a breach.
A wildcard aspect to the non-compete analysis (perhaps it goes to 'Scope of Activity') is the size of wrestling media universe, which cuts strongly in Willie's favor. To enforce this non-compete in the manner Flo is requesting is equivalent to preventing Willie from working anywhere, because any wrestling media will be a competitor to Flo. It's a small pond, as everyone knows.
Texas business law starts from the proposition that every restraint on trade is unlawful, with certain exceptions, of which valid non-compete clauses is one. Prohibiting Willie from working in wrestling media at all for a year--which is what Flo's request amounts to--seems to go well beyond the reasonability requirement imposed on all non-compete agreements.
Tikk, what are your thoughts on Flo's claims that Willie deleted content off their server prior to leaving? I assume he deleted his rankings and the other stuff that was immediately posted on Rofkin. Also, what do you think of the fact that his non-commercial clause was signed by Martin Flo who is now the owner of Rifkin and fellow defendant?As already seemed obvious, it's a suit seeking damages for Willie's alleged violation of the non-compete clause in his employment agreement. Flo claims that Willie downloaded from Flo and immediately began providing to Rokfin his same content--the examples Flo provides are Willie's rankings. Flo also cites Willie's tweet about "Who's #1" being his "from conception to execution" as an example of his alleged plan to continue misappropriating Flo's property.
The complaint also names Rokfin as a defendant and accuses it of tortious interference by inducing Willie to break his employment agreement and provide similar services to Rokfin.
I have a few thoughts because I think Flo is on shaky ground here. This isn't my area, and I don't really have an idea what a Texas court will do with it, but I do know that the trend, nationwide, is to view non-compete clauses skeptically and narrowly. Some states have banned them outright.
But before I get to non-competes, there's another issue lurking here. It's not immediately clear to me that a Texas court has jurisdiction overRokfin (a Wisconsin company) orWillie (a Pennsylvania resident). I'm not going to go entirely down the diversity jurisdiction rabbit hole but there's an argument that a federal court is the proper venue for this dispute, not Texas, even if the federal court would be deciding Texas law. [Edit to correct mistake about Rokfin's place of business]
On to non-competes. The issue of non-compete agreements arises here in the context of an injunction request, and the standard for obtaining injunctions is distinct from the ultimate underlying legal question of whether the defendant has violated his employment agreement. Flo must show that it has a "a probable right" to enforce the agreement; and that if not enforced, Flo will suffer a "probable, imminent, and irreparable injury" "for which [they] have no adequate legal remedy." [3] This means that even if the court finds that the agreement is probably valid, if it was possible for Flo to calculate its damages (in terms of money), the injunction won't be granted. Some Texas courts ignore this imminent injury requirement, though.
As to the underlying issue of the agreement's enforcebability, Texas law, like most states and federal law, imposes a reasonableness standard, effectively limiting non-compete clauses as to (1) Time; (2) Geographic Area; and (3) Scope of Activity.
As for Time, Texas has found 1-2 year agreements reasonable, so that aspect of the agreement is uncontroversial.
As for geographic area, the non-compete language included in the complaint is interesting. It states that for one year after termination, a Flo employee won't compete "in the region and/or cities in which I am responsible for conducting business for the Company...", which the contract defines as the "Geographic Territory." It further prohibits the terminated employee from performing "the same or similar duties" as was performed at Flo (also within the "Geographic Territory").
Since Flo employees are responsible for "conducting business" in numerous cities beyond Austin, Flo's notion of "Geographic Territory" is pretty much everywhere on earth where wrestling might occur. Reasonable? Dicey.
As to the "scope of activity" consideration, it might be significant that the basis for the dispute is Willie's *rankings.* Even if a judge was predisposed to finding the non-compete otherwise valid, they might look sideways at the idea of enforcing it to the extent of prohibiting Willie from ranking wrestlers. Rankings aren't intrinsic to Flo, it's a core activity/service in every sport and as I said above, courts are wary of enforcing non-competes too broadly. That said, rankings are copyrightable, though just barely meeting the "originality" requirement as expressed in Feist v. Rural Telephone.
I've not looked at Texas case law on any of these prongs so the above is just reasonable guesses about what a judge might do if a judge exercised minimal skepticism about non-compete clauses. A non-curious judge might just look at the complaint and see that Willie reposted "his" rankings at Rokfin and be satisfied that there's a breach.
A wildcard aspect to the non-compete analysis (perhaps it goes to 'Scope of Activity') is the size of wrestling media universe, which cuts strongly in Willie's favor. To enforce this non-compete in the manner Flo is requesting is equivalent to preventing Willie from working anywhere, because any wrestling media will be a competitor to Flo. It's a small pond, as everyone knows.
Texas business law starts from the proposition that every restraint on trade is unlawful, with certain exceptions, of which valid non-compete clauses is one. Prohibiting Willie from working in wrestling media at all for a year--which is what Flo's request amounts to--seems to go well beyond the reasonability requirement imposed on all non-compete agreements.
Thanks Tikk. I’m a practicing attorney, but these things aren’t my bailiwick, so I appreciate the detailed analysis. I’m very interested in defendant’s answer
Would like to get your legal takes on a couple decidedly non-lawyer thoughts I have:As already seemed obvious, it's a suit seeking damages for Willie's alleged violation of the non-compete clause in his employment agreement. Flo claims that Willie downloaded from Flo and immediately began providing to Rokfin his same content--the examples Flo provides are Willie's rankings. Flo also cites Willie's tweet about "Who's #1" being his "from conception to execution" as an example of his alleged plan to continue misappropriating Flo's property.
The complaint also names Rokfin as a defendant and accuses it of tortious interference by inducing Willie to break his employment agreement and provide similar services to Rokfin.
I have a few thoughts because I think Flo is on shaky ground here. This isn't my area, and I don't really have an idea what a Texas court will do with it, but I do know that the trend, nationwide, is to view non-compete clauses skeptically and narrowly. Some states have banned them outright.
But before I get to non-competes, there's another issue lurking here. It's not immediately clear to me that a Texas court has jurisdiction overRokfin (a Wisconsin company) orWillie (a Pennsylvania resident). I'm not going to go entirely down the diversity jurisdiction rabbit hole but there's an argument that a federal court is the proper venue for this dispute, not Texas, even if the federal court would be deciding Texas law. [Edit to correct mistake about Rokfin's place of business]
On to non-competes. The issue of non-compete agreements arises here in the context of an injunction request, and the standard for obtaining injunctions is distinct from the ultimate underlying legal question of whether the defendant has violated his employment agreement. Flo must show that it has a "a probable right" to enforce the agreement; and that if not enforced, Flo will suffer a "probable, imminent, and irreparable injury" "for which [they] have no adequate legal remedy." This means that even if the court finds that the agreement is probably valid, if it was possible for Flo to calculate its damages (in terms of money), the injunction won't be granted. Some Texas courts ignore this imminent injury requirement, though.
As to the underlying issue of the agreement's enforcebability, Texas law, like most states and federal law, imposes a reasonableness standard, effectively limiting non-compete clauses as to (1) Time; (2) Geographic Area; and (3) Scope of Activity.
As for Time, Texas has found 1-2 year agreements reasonable, so that aspect of the agreement is uncontroversial.
As for geographic area, the non-compete language included in the complaint is interesting. It states that for one year after termination, a Flo employee won't compete "in the region and/or cities in which I am responsible for conducting business for the Company...", which the contract defines as the "Geographic Territory." It further prohibits the terminated employee from performing "the same or similar duties" as was performed at Flo (also within the "Geographic Territory").
Since Flo employees are responsible for "conducting business" in numerous cities beyond Austin, Flo's notion of "Geographic Territory" is pretty much everywhere on earth where wrestling might occur. Reasonable? Dicey.
As to the "scope of activity" consideration, it might be significant that the basis for the dispute is Willie's *rankings.* Even if a judge was predisposed to finding the non-compete otherwise valid, they might look sideways at the idea of enforcing it to the extent of prohibiting Willie from ranking wrestlers. Rankings aren't intrinsic to Flo, it's a core activity/service in every sport and as I said above, courts are wary of enforcing non-competes too broadly. That said, rankings are copyrightable, though just barely meeting the "originality" requirement as expressed in Feist v. Rural Telephone.
I've not looked at Texas case law on any of these prongs so the above is just reasonable guesses about what a judge might do if a judge exercised minimal skepticism about non-compete clauses. A non-curious judge might just look at the complaint and see that Willie reposted "his" rankings at Rokfin and be satisfied that there's a breach.
A wildcard aspect to the non-compete analysis (perhaps it goes to 'Scope of Activity') is the size of wrestling media universe, which cuts strongly in Willie's favor. To enforce this non-compete in the manner Flo is requesting is equivalent to preventing Willie from working anywhere, because any wrestling media will be a competitor to Flo. It's a small pond, as everyone knows.
Texas business law starts from the proposition that every restraint on trade is unlawful, with certain exceptions, of which valid non-compete clauses is one. Prohibiting Willie from working in wrestling media at all for a year--which is what Flo's request amounts to--seems to go well beyond the reasonability requirement imposed on all non-compete agreements.
If he actually deleted content that doesn't look great but the cause of action is violation of non-compete clause as opposed to theft of intellectual property or trade secrets, which is why I think the smarter defense is to attack the validity of the non-compete clause as opposed to conceding its validity but argue that there was no violation.Tikk, what are your thoughts on Flo's claims that Willie deleted content off their server prior to leaving? I assume he deleted his rankings and the other stuff that was immediately posted on Rofkin. Also, what do you think of the fact that his non-commercial clause was signed by Martin Flo who is now the owner of Rifkin and fellow defendant?
Re 1, I don't think much of the mention in the complaint because the tweet is ambiguous, like you say. A judge might not appreciate it but it's not something that a judge is going to hang a decision on, I'd think.Would like to get your legal takes on a couple decidedly non-lawyer thoughts I have:
1. "Willie's tweet about 'Who's #1' being his 'from conception to execution' as an example of his alleged plan to continue misappropriating Flo's property." This strikes me as aggressive. I took Willie's tweet as a broader statement of his ability, not an intent to poach a single event. Besides, nothing is stopping Flo from organizing 2020 WNO right now.
2. Geography: Willie moved back to Easton well before leaving Flo. Isn't Flo's argument here tantamount to saying he cannot work on wrestling from Easton? Which seems like another way to push him out of the industry altogether for the length of his non-compete.
3. Rankings --IIRC Willie did rankings long before joining Flo. Since he brought that to Flo, does he retain any rights after leaving (aside from rankings being generic in nature)?
As already seemed obvious, it's a suit seeking damages for Willie's alleged violation of the non-compete clause in his employment agreement. Flo claims that Willie downloaded from Flo and immediately began providing to Rokfin his same content--the examples Flo provides are Willie's rankings. Flo also cites Willie's tweet about "Who's #1" being his "from conception to execution" as an example of his alleged plan to continue misappropriating Flo's property.
The complaint also names Rokfin as a defendant and accuses it of tortious interference by inducing Willie to break his employment agreement and provide similar services to Rokfin.
I have a few thoughts because I think Flo is on shaky ground here. This isn't my area, and I don't really have an idea what a Texas court will do with it, but I do know that the trend, nationwide, is to view non-compete clauses skeptically and narrowly. Some states have banned them outright.
But before I get to non-competes, there's another issue lurking here. It's not immediately clear to me that a Texas court has jurisdiction over Rokfin (a Wisconsin company) or Willie (a Pennsylvania resident). I'm not going to go entirely down the diversity jurisdiction rabbit hole but there's an argument that a federal court is the proper venue for this dispute, not Texas, even if the federal court would be deciding Texas law.
On to non-competes. The issue of non-compete agreements arises here in the context of an injunction request, and the standard for obtaining injunctions is distinct from the ultimate underlying legal question of whether the defendant has violated his employment agreement. Flo must show that it has a "a probable right" to enforce the agreement; and that if not enforced, Flo will suffer a "probable, imminent, and irreparable injury" "for which [they] have no adequate legal remedy." [3] This means that even if the court finds that the agreement is probably valid, if it was possible for Flo to calculate its damages (in terms of money), the injunction won't be granted. Some Texas courts ignore this imminent injury requirement, though.
As to the underlying issue of the agreement's enforcebability, Texas law, like most states and federal law, imposes a reasonableness standard, effectively limiting non-compete clauses as to (1) Time; (2) Geographic Area; and (3) Scope of Activity.
As for Time, Texas has found 1-2 year agreements reasonable, so that aspect of the agreement is uncontroversial.
As for geographic area, the non-compete language included in the complaint is interesting. It states that for one year after termination, a Flo employee won't compete "in the region and/or cities in which I am responsible for conducting business for the Company...", which the contract defines as the "Geographic Territory." It further prohibits the terminated employee from performing "the same or similar duties" as was performed at Flo (also within the "Geographic Territory").
Since Flo employees are responsible for "conducting business" in numerous cities beyond Austin, Flo's notion of "Geographic Territory" is pretty much everywhere on earth where wrestling might occur. Reasonable? Dicey.
As to the "scope of activity" consideration, it might be significant that the basis for the dispute is Willie's *rankings.* Even if a judge was predisposed to finding the non-compete otherwise valid, they might look sideways at the idea of enforcing it to the extent of prohibiting Willie from ranking wrestlers. Rankings aren't intrinsic to Flo, it's a core activity/service in every sport and as I said above, courts are wary of enforcing non-competes too broadly. That said, rankings are copyrightable, though just barely meeting the "originality" requirement as expressed in Feist v. Rural Telephone.
I've not looked at Texas case law on any of these prongs so the above is just reasonable guesses about what a judge might do if a judge exercised minimal skepticism about non-compete clauses. A non-curious judge might just look at the complaint and see that Willie reposted "his" rankings at Rokfin and be satisfied that there's a breach.
A wildcard aspect to the non-compete analysis (perhaps it goes to 'Scope of Activity') is the size of wrestling media universe, which cuts strongly in Willie's favor. To enforce this non-compete in the manner Flo is requesting is equivalent to preventing Willie from working anywhere, because any wrestling media will be a competitor to Flo. It's a small pond, as everyone knows.
Texas business law starts from the proposition that every restraint on trade is unlawful, with certain exceptions, of which valid non-compete clauses is one. Prohibiting Willie from working in wrestling media at all for a year--which is what Flo's request amounts to--seems to go well beyond the reasonability requirement imposed on all non-compete agreements.
Thanks Tikk. I’m a practicing attorney, but these things aren’t my bailiwick, so I appreciate the detailed analysis. I’m very interested in defendant’s answer
I'm giggling at the Founding fathers writing laws and such and Twitter screenshots being used in a lawsuit. Ol' Thomas Jefferson probably would have been a master of the meme.
The problem with the theft of IP claim is that they haven't made it; they only allege the facts relating to it in support of the non-compete breach claim.I deal with non-competes, etc. at work. In general they are extremely difficult to enforce, particularly if it encompasses a broad geographic area and the defendant can prove that they cannot make a living at their chosen profession if held to their non-compete. I think Willie will win that battle. The biggest risk he has is the supposed theft of Flo's content. If Flo can demonstrate he took content that belongs to them and used it on a competitors site, that could be a problem. Tortious interference is definitely not a word you want to hear if you are a business. But if a court decides Willie's non-compete is not enforceable then there is no interference by Rofkin. I'm sure Martin reviewed Willie's non-compete and decided it wasn't enforceable before bringing him on board. He's no dummy.
In general going after an employee for a non-compete is a losing proposition in most states. Flo would be better off to focus on proving that intellectual properly / content was stolen and dump the non-compete fight IMHO. It is a waste of time and cash that would be better spent fixing their gawd awful service.
Great point. This thread continues to further my education, thank you friends.Ben Franklin was the forefather of memes.
Tikk, for this legal work, is it a check from the Slush fund or will beers from Whiskers suffice?
Whatever stout is on tap in Minnesota.Tikk, for this legal work, is it a check from the Slush fund or will beers form Whiskers suffice?
I've got his beer covered in Minnie. Wait, wait, not ALL of it.Tikk, for this legal work, is it a check from the Slush fund or will beers form Whiskers suffice?
As already seemed obvious, it's a suit seeking damages for Willie's alleged violation of the non-compete clause in his employment agreement. Flo claims that Willie downloaded from Flo and immediately began providing to Rokfin his same content--the examples Flo provides are Willie's rankings. Flo also cites Willie's tweet about "Who's #1" being his "from conception to execution" as an example of his alleged plan to continue misappropriating Flo's property.
The complaint also names Rokfin as a defendant and accuses it of tortious interference by inducing Willie to break his employment agreement and provide similar services to Rokfin.
I have a few thoughts because I think Flo is on shaky ground here. This isn't my area, and I don't really have an idea what a Texas court will do with it, but I do know that the trend, nationwide, is to view non-compete clauses skeptically and narrowly. Some states have banned them outright.
But before I get to non-competes, there's another issue lurking here. It's not immediately clear to me that a Texas court has jurisdiction overRokfin (a Wisconsin company) orWillie (a Pennsylvania resident). I'm not going to go entirely down the diversity jurisdiction rabbit hole but there's an argument that a federal court is the proper venue for this dispute, not Texas, even if the federal court would be deciding Texas law. [Edit to correct mistake about Rokfin's place of business]
On to non-competes. The issue of non-compete agreements arises here in the context of an injunction request, and the standard for obtaining injunctions is distinct from the ultimate underlying legal question of whether the defendant has violated his employment agreement. Flo must show that it has a "a probable right" to enforce the agreement; and that if not enforced, Flo will suffer a "probable, imminent, and irreparable injury" "for which [they] have no adequate legal remedy." This means that even if the court finds that the agreement is probably valid, if it was possible for Flo to calculate its damages (in terms of money), the injunction won't be granted. Some Texas courts ignore this imminent injury requirement, though.
As to the underlying issue of the agreement's enforcebability, Texas law, like most states and federal law, imposes a reasonableness standard, effectively limiting non-compete clauses as to (1) Time; (2) Geographic Area; and (3) Scope of Activity.
As for Time, Texas has found 1-2 year agreements reasonable, so that aspect of the agreement is uncontroversial.
As for geographic area, the non-compete language included in the complaint is interesting. It states that for one year after termination, a Flo employee won't compete "in the region and/or cities in which I am responsible for conducting business for the Company...", which the contract defines as the "Geographic Territory." It further prohibits the terminated employee from performing "the same or similar duties" as was performed at Flo (also within the "Geographic Territory").
Since Flo employees are responsible for "conducting business" in numerous cities beyond Austin, Flo's notion of "Geographic Territory" is pretty much everywhere on earth where wrestling might occur. Reasonable? Dicey.
As to the "scope of activity" consideration, it might be significant that the basis for the dispute is Willie's *rankings.* Even if a judge was predisposed to finding the non-compete otherwise valid, they might look sideways at the idea of enforcing it to the extent of prohibiting Willie from ranking wrestlers. Rankings aren't intrinsic to Flo, it's a core activity/service in every sport and as I said above, courts are wary of enforcing non-competes too broadly. That said, rankings are copyrightable, though just barely meeting the "originality" requirement as expressed in Feist v. Rural Telephone.
I've not looked at Texas case law on any of these prongs so the above is just reasonable guesses about what a judge might do if a judge exercised minimal skepticism about non-compete clauses. A non-curious judge might just look at the complaint and see that Willie reposted "his" rankings at Rokfin and be satisfied that there's a breach.
A wildcard aspect to the non-compete analysis (perhaps it goes to 'Scope of Activity') is the size of wrestling media universe, which cuts strongly in Willie's favor. To enforce this non-compete in the manner Flo is requesting is equivalent to preventing Willie from working anywhere, because any wrestling media will be a competitor to Flo. It's a small pond, as everyone knows.
Texas business law starts from the proposition that every restraint on trade is unlawful, with certain exceptions, of which valid non-compete clauses is one. Prohibiting Willie from working in wrestling media at all for a year--which is what Flo's request amounts to--seems to go well beyond the reasonability requirement imposed on all non-compete agreements.
I get what you're saying but you're inventing causes of action and facts for Flo that aren't in the complaint. They may still amend the complaint, and I wouldn't be surprised if they did, but it's not really worth gaming out until Flo makes additional allegations.I did not read all the of the above explanation on the non compete issue but can share how my business non compete policy is written.
If one time ownership (stock shares) leaves the business he or she can not pursue to do same trade or participate in retail sales for 5 years in a 50 mile radius. Milage is defined basically as the crow flies.
I would think Willie could have been hired in different position at Rofkin and legally was ok. However if Rofkin started to do practices and marketing in direct competition with FLO than Willie might be in breach. For instance, a FLO advertiser leaves FLO to go Rofkin. Willie would of known contacts info and financial commitment creating an unfair business strategy. It would be like inside stock trading.
My guess FLO will try to prove Willie used that knowledge to directly compete against them. Rofkin will argue he was hired in a different position not related to what he did at FLO.
We will need to see a legal description of what the term "covered" encompasses. Seems like you have left yourself wide open to years of financial liability to, what I understand is, a bottomless pit.I've got his beer covered in Minnie. Wait, wait, not ALL of it.
As noted I didn't read in detail the complaint. I brought up the non compete issue back when it was announced that Willie was leaving and was just speaking in general terms.I get what you're saying but you're inventing causes of action and facts for Flo that aren't in the complaint. They may still amend the complaint, and I wouldn't be surprised if they did, but it's not really worth gaming out until Flo makes additional allegations.
A) I think the allegation that Willie was competing against Flo is contained to the specific allegation that he downloaded his rankings while still at Flo and then reposted them at Rokfin, then left. That's how I read that. Since the rankings were publicly available it's not especially compelling because Willie could have left, downloaded them at home, then reposted them just as easily (unless what he took includes non-public content, I don't know but the complaint doesn't allege as much). It probably wasn't wise to delete them at Flo, if that's what he did, but the damages at play here are negligible I'd think.Tikk- Thanks for the detailed and thoughtful explanation of Flo's lawsuit against Willie and more broadly the ability to enforce NDA's. Like many people on this board, I have found myself on both sides of the equation multiple times in my career and your explanation has helped me to fill in the blanks.
I'm curious on your take on the following claims from Flo's lawsuit and how they will be treated in this lawsuit:
a) The repeated claim that Willie was violating his NDA (and possibly other company policies) while he was still employed by Flo. As a result of including this claim in their current lawsuit against Willie is Flo able to make the same claim at a later date in a separate lawsuit?
b) The lawsuit repeatedly claims that Martin (now at Rofkin) has been actively recruiting Willie for over a year and while Willie was still at Flo. I know Martin started Flo and after several rounds of Venture funding and a decade or so of strong growth, separated from Flo (not sure of the details of his departure). Is it fair to assume that if Flo has not cited a breach of a Non Recruit or Poaching agreement between Flo and Martin that there likely is not an agreement of that type in place or that the effective term of a previous agreement has lapsed? If my assumption is correct my guess is that a secondary goal of Flo's lawsuit is to send notice that they are prepared to litigate any future recruiting efforts of Flo employees.
c) The lawsuit is charging Willie and Rofkin collectively for $1mm. Assuming the judge finds in Flo's favor and does award them the $1mm would the judge also break out what percentage each of the defendants are responsible for? If not, and assuming there is not a contract in place between Willie and Rofkin dealing with this issue, how is each defendants responsibility determined.
Thanks again for your insight.
The inventions disclosure form is, I believe, part of the entire employment agreement, and the only reason it was included. That Willie did rankings prior to becoming employed at Flo is moot to this end because rankings aren't "inventions" by any possible definition, I'd think.Regarding potential IP contentions, is there any significance to the non compete agreement lacking a complete invention disclosure?
I noticed no initialed lines relative to prior inventions, and--although signed--it was undated.
Just maybe Willie did come up with WNO before joining Flo.
I actually did a search and replace on my first post here before posting and had to correct numerous instances of "Rofkin" and even one "Rockfin." If I was Martin I'd buy those domain names and redirect them to the right one.Considering about 50% of the messages on this board have spelled rokfin incorrectly, can we all agree that they have chosen their name poorly?