Bengaluru court: Confidentiality clause can’t stop ex-employees joining rivals
What Happened
A Bengaluru court has held that employers cannot prevent former employees from joining competitors merely by relying on confidentiality clauses. The ruling came while dismissing a suit by EOX Vantage Private Limited against former employee Shruthi BS. The court said employers can legitimately protect trade secrets, proprietary information, confidential pricing and customer data, but restrictions preventing someone from pursuing a lawful profession or business would be void under Section 27 of the Indian Contract Act.
Key Takeaways
Confidentiality can protect genuine business secrets, but cannot be used as a backdoor non-compete clause to stop a former employee from joining a rival.