Legal Question in Business Law in Colorado

Re: Non-Competition Law

The phrase, "illegal" generally refers to the kind of violation of law for which criminal penalties exist. I am not aware of any criminal penalties that exist for competing with a former employer, with or without a non-competition agreement. Whether you may be engaging in conduct which could expose you to civil liability is a different question. Without a written non-competition agreement, an employer would probably have to show that you took and used customer lists, trade secret or other proprietary information, that you are violating copyright / patent rights, or engaging in some other form of unfair competition to successfully pursue you in civil court. Your message does not provide sufficient information from which to begin an analysis of these sorts of issues. If you would like a more detailed analysis, I strongly suggest that you seek legal counsel as this is a complex and difficult area of law. You would be better to spend a few dollars on lawyers keeping you out of trouble now than a lot of dollars later getting you out of the mess that you could otherwise find yourself in. Good luck.