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They cannot enforce a non-compete on a customer. Check out the rest of their terms that talk about durability. They will sneakily say "our terms that are illega
by zlg_codes 3y ago
They cannot enforce a non-compete on a customer. Check out the rest of their terms that talk about durability. They will sneakily say "our terms that are illegal don't apply but the rest do."
You cannot tell a customer that buying your product precludes them from building products like it. That violates principles of the free market, and it's unenforceable. This is just like non-competes in employment. They aren't constitutional.
- quesera 3y agoThere's no constitutional question, and these services can drop you as a customer for (almost) any reason. So yes, they can enforce their terms for all practical purposes. But no, they cannot levy fines or put you in jail.
- zlg_codes 3y ago> But no, they cannot levy fines or put you in jail. Those are the consequences that matter. I don't care if Microsoft or Google decide they don't want to be friends with me. They'd stab me in the back to steal my personal data anyway.
- quesera 3y agoYou do care if you built your business on top of them though. And that's the whole point of violating terms by competing with them.
- zlg_codes 3y agoI wouldn't want to build a business on something that could be pulled out from underneath me. I'd start a business but the whole setup is a government scam. Business licenses are just subscriptions with extra steps.