Use of business emails after resigning without signing a non competition clause
I have recently left a business that is an acting studio in NYC. I did not sign a non-competiion agreement or ever agree to one verbally. Do I have the right to use the email addresses and phone numbers that were obtained by me while working there?? I resigned in 2 steps, first as part of curriculum managment and then 2 weeks later as a teacher altogether. After my resignation from managment I sent a mass email to everyone asking them to contact me on my home email account as I no longer would have access to the business computer. I already had all of these emails at home anyway but in fairness I may have emassed a few more since that email. The business I resigned from is now accusing me of stealing their database information/client list. What are my rights and what are theirs??
1 answer | asked Oct 25, 2006 10:27 AM [EST] | applies to New York
Answers (1)
In a sense, employers do not need non-compete agreements to protect legitimate business interests. Former employees, for example, have no right to "borrow" a secret formula for a successful product. An employer would certainly be able to go to court to prevent the former employee from using its own secret formula against it. In a situation here is not so much competition from a former employee as it is protect the investment that the employer made in developing the formula.
Exactly what an employer can protect is hard to describe in general terms, because it all depends on the industry and what the employer seeks to protect. (If you seek advise on your specific situation, you need to set up a consultation with an attorney.) Generally speaking, however, an employer has a right to protection from the appropriate of its business databases, including customer or client lists, provided that the database is truly unique or proprietary. If, for example, a list of potential clients could easily be reconstructed from an industry directory, an employer would have a hard time protecting a customer list that is more or less the same as the listings in the industry directory.
posted by David M. Lira | Oct 26, 2006 08:47 AM [EST]
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