District Court Strikes Down Worldwide Non-Competition Clause and Refuses to Edit it

This spring, the United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania struck down a worldwide non-competition clause and refused to limit the geographic restriction to make it enforceable.

In Adhesives Research, Inc. v. Susan Newsom, No. 1:15-CV-0326, 2015 WL 1638557 (M.D. Pa. 4/13/15), the plaintiff, a manufacturer of specialty tape, sued its former business and marketing manager for the western half of the United States. The former employee resigned to join the defendant, a manufacturer of bonding products and adhesive components, as its senior strategic sales executive for the western half of United States. The plaintiff sought a TRO to enforce a 2-year, worldwide non-competition clause prohibiting the former employee from performing any services similar to the services performed while with the plaintiff for any business that sold any products that compete with any of plaintiff’s products.