Non-Competition Representation Integrity Violated By Engineer A
P · Principle
Individual
http://proethica.org/ontology/case/127#Non-Competition_Representation_Integrity_Violated_By_Engineer_A
Properties
Instance of
Non-CompetitionRepresentationIntegrityObligation
http://proethica.org/ontology/intermediate#Non-CompetitionRepresentationIntegrityObligation
Applied to
Engineer A Departing Engineer Starting Competing Firm
Balancing with
Competitive Employment Freedom With Confidentiality Constraint
Free and Open Competition as Engineering Ethics Boundary Condition
Concrete expression
Engineer A explicitly represented to Firm X that he would start a one-person firm and would not compete with Firm X, then within one month began recruiting Firm X's staff and soliciting Firm X's clients for his new competing firm Firm Y
Confidence
0.85
Importance
high
Interpretation
The explicit pre-departure representation of non-competition created an ethical obligation of fidelity that Engineer A violated by immediately engaging in direct competitive conduct against Firm X — soliciting both staff and clients — without any disclosed change of intent
Invoked by
Engineer B Incumbent Firm Principal Discovering Competitor Misconduct
Tension resolution
While engineers have a general right to compete freely, that right is constrained by prior explicit representations of non-competition; the ethical violation lies not in the competition itself but in the breach of the stated representation that induced Firm X's reliance
Source Evidence
Source text
Engineer A had represented that he was going to start his own one-person consulting firm, Firm Y, and that he would not be in the position of competing with Firm X.
Text references
A month after Engineer A departs from Firm X, Engineer B, a principal in Firm X learns that Engineer A has contacted one of Firm X's employees, Engineer C, and offered her a position with Firm Y.
Engineer A had represented that he was going to start his own one-person consulting firm, Firm Y, and that he would not be in the position of competing with Firm X.
TTL
@prefix case127: <http://proethica.org/ontology/case/127#> .
@prefix owl: <http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#> .
@prefix proeth: <http://proethica.org/ontology/intermediate#> .
@prefix prov: <http://www.w3.org/ns/prov#> .
@prefix rdfs: <http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#> .
@prefix xsd: <http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#> .
case127:Non-Competition_Representation_Integrity_Violated_By_Engineer_A a proeth:Non-CompetitionRepresentationIntegrityObligation,
owl:NamedIndividual ;
rdfs:label "Non-Competition Representation Integrity Violated By Engineer A" ;
proeth:appliedto "Engineer A Departing Engineer Starting Competing Firm" ;
proeth:balancingwith "Competitive Employment Freedom With Confidentiality Constraint",
"Free and Open Competition as Engineering Ethics Boundary Condition" ;
proeth:conceptCategory "Principle" ;
proeth:concreteexpression "Engineer A explicitly represented to Firm X that he would start a one-person firm and would not compete with Firm X, then within one month began recruiting Firm X's staff and soliciting Firm X's clients for his new competing firm Firm Y" ;
proeth:confidence "0.85" ;
proeth:discoveredincase "127" ;
proeth:discoveredinpass "2" ;
proeth:discoveredinsection "facts" ;
proeth:firstdiscoveredat "2026-03-01T03:14:48.554502+00:00" ;
proeth:firstdiscoveredincase "127" ;
proeth:generatedattime "2026-03-01T03:14:48.554502+00:00" ;
proeth:importance "high" ;
proeth:interpretation "The explicit pre-departure representation of non-competition created an ethical obligation of fidelity that Engineer A violated by immediately engaging in direct competitive conduct against Firm X — soliciting both staff and clients — without any disclosed change of intent" ;
proeth:invokedby "Engineer B Incumbent Firm Principal Discovering Competitor Misconduct" ;
proeth:principleclass "Non-Competition Representation Integrity Obligation" ;
proeth:sourcetext "Engineer A had represented that he was going to start his own one-person consulting firm, Firm Y, and that he would not be in the position of competing with Firm X." ;
proeth:tensionresolution "While engineers have a general right to compete freely, that right is constrained by prior explicit representations of non-competition; the ethical violation lies not in the competition itself but in the breach of the stated representation that induced Firm X's reliance" ;
proeth:textreferences "A month after Engineer A departs from Firm X, Engineer B, a principal in Firm X learns that Engineer A has contacted one of Firm X's employees, Engineer C, and offered her a position with Firm Y.",
"Engineer A had represented that he was going to start his own one-person consulting firm, Firm Y, and that he would not be in the position of competing with Firm X." ;
proeth:wasattributedto "Case 127 Extraction" ;
prov:generatedAtTime "2026-03-01T03:44:36.608090"^^xsd:dateTime ;
prov:wasGeneratedBy "ProEthica Case 127 Extraction" .
Metadata
Extraction details
Discovered in case
127
Discovered in pass
2
Discovered in section
facts
First discovered
2026-03-01T03:14:48.554502+00:00
First case
127
Generated
2026-03-01T03:14:48.554502+00:00
Attributed to
Case 127 Extraction
Generated
2026-03-01T03:44:36.608090
Generated by
ProEthica Case 127 Extraction