Legal Question in Business Law in New Jersey

Non-competition matters are resolved by a chancery judge if they rise to that level. That means that they are resolved as matters of equity (fairness) rather than as legal matters. That means that the judge has a lot of latitude to examine the circumstances. My experience has been that even if there is a non-competition agreement, the court will permit the use of the prior employer's name if it is used for identification purposes such as "John Smith, formerly with ABC Cuttery". What can't be done if there is a non-compete agreement is to target that notice to the clients of the former shop such as by mail or email. Absent an enforceable non-compete agreement the basic requirement is that you can't compete while you are still working for an employer and you can't take and use the former employer's confidential information.

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