In New York State, the company has to demonstrate damage to it in order to win a lawsuit, and non competes are usually tied to some sort of previous granting of

In New York State, the company has to demonstrate damage to it in order to win a lawsuit, and non competes are usually tied to some sort of previous granting of something, like stock options which can be lost. In practice judges rarely enforce them more than a year although the contracts stipulate longer periods. Now, the above is just my understanding, I'm not a lawyer and new to this awful world of non competes. Just the threat of a lawsuit can steer behavior since defense against one can be costly.