3 ms·

I suspect a lot of this is due to California's employee-friendly laws that prevent non-compete agreements and prevent "we own every thought you have" intellectu

I suspect a lot of this is due to California's employee-friendly laws that prevent non-compete agreements and prevent "we own every thought you have" intellectual property assignments. As a libertarian I naturally lean towards freedom of contract, but some things are properly inalienable. Are these common in other states?

spamizbad 17y ago
Sort-of, although states with similar laws tend to be more ambiguous, which results in messy legal battles where the employees are often outgunned by corporate lawyers. California's is fairly clear and has been tested in court on several occasions.
lionhearted 17y ago
> I suspect a lot of this is due to California's employee-friendly laws that prevent non-compete agreements and prevent "we own every thought you have" intellectual property assignments. Nah - Funding comes, by definition, from people with money. The coasts are much wealthier than inlands. Hence, more funding. Founders often agree to really draconian terms - they're not going to Cali for employee protection laws. There's currently lots of technology and funding in Silicon Valley, so founders and investors both go there. It's cyclical - if there was as good of an environment with less regulation and laws, it'd attract even more. Actually, there are examples of that: recent example #1 is the crazy-fast ascent of Ireland into a European key business center, and Dubai built from desert nothing wasteland into grandiose world finance center is recent example #2. Edit: Also, no one actually enforces noncomps unless things end in a nasty way. Then it's just a tiny bit of leverage if things already went south. If you don't go to a director competitor in a hostile way during the noncomp period, employers don't care. And if the duration or geography isn't very concise, they're invalid in court. Non-comp not such a big deal. Intellectual property assignment is serious though.

spamizbad 17y ago

Sort-of, although states with similar laws tend to be more ambiguous, which results in messy legal battles where the employees are often outgunned by corporate lawyers. California's is fairly clear and has been tested in court on several occasions.

lionhearted 17y ago

> I suspect a lot of this is due to California's employee-friendly laws that prevent non-compete agreements and prevent "we own every thought you have" intellectual property assignments. Nah - Funding comes, by definition, from people with money. The coasts are much wealthier than inlands. Hence, more funding. Founders often agree to really draconian terms - they're not going to Cali for employee protection laws. There's currently lots of technology and funding in Silicon Valley, so founders and investors both go there. It's cyclical - if there was as good of an environment with less regulation and laws, it'd attract even more. Actually, there are examples of that: recent example #1 is the crazy-fast ascent of Ireland into a European key business center, and Dubai built from desert nothing wasteland into grandiose world finance center is recent example #2. Edit: Also, no one actually enforces noncomps unless things end in a nasty way. Then it's just a tiny bit of leverage if things already went south. If you don't go to a director competitor in a hostile way during the noncomp period, employers don't care. And if the duration or geography isn't very concise, they're invalid in court. Non-comp not such a big deal. Intellectual property assignment is serious though.