For the employer, especially, the cost would extend beyond a direct financial one. It would be difficult to pursue such a legal path against a current/former em

For the employer, especially, the cost would extend beyond a direct financial one. It would be difficult to pursue such a legal path against a current/former employee without other current and potential future employees catching wind of it. I imagine it would be a massive blow to the reputation and hence recruiting power of any organization that was perceived as unfairly penalizing an employee for working on something unrelated to his day job in his own spare time.