Free and Open Competition Applied to Engineer A Post-Departure Solicitation Permissibility
P · Principle
Individual
http://proethica.org/ontology/case/178#Free_and_Open_Competition_Applied_to_Engineer_A_Post-Departure_Solicitation_Permissibility
Properties
Instance of
FreeandOpenCompetitionasEngineeringEthicsBoundaryCondition
http://proethica.org/ontology/intermediate#FreeandOpenCompetitionasEngineeringEthicsBoundaryCondition
Applied to
Engineer A's solicitation of ABC's clients after one year
The general permissibility of competing for former employer's clients
Balancing with
Faithful Agent Obligation Within Ethical Limits
Post-Employment Confidential Information Non-Use Prohibition
Concrete expression
Engineer A's solicitation of Clover City and other former ABC clients after one year is presumptively permissible under the principle of free and open competition, given the absence of a no-compete agreement and the passage of a reasonable transition period
Confidence
0.92
Importance
high
Interpretation
Free and open competition principles support the permissibility of Engineer A's post-departure solicitation; the ethical constraints are on the manner of competition (no use of confidential information, no misrepresentation) rather than on competition itself
Invoked by
Engineer A Voluntary Non-Solicitation Period Departing Engineer
Tension resolution
Competition is permissible; confidentiality and honesty constraints govern the manner of competition
Source Evidence
Source text
after a year has passed, Engineer A begins soliciting work from ABC's clients, including Clover City. There was no 'no-compete agreement' between Engineer A and ABC Engineering Company.
Text references
There was no 'no-compete agreement' between Engineer A and ABC Engineering Company.
after a year has passed, Engineer A begins soliciting work from ABC's clients, including Clover City
TTL
@prefix case178: <http://proethica.org/ontology/case/178#> .
@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#> .
case178:Free_and_Open_Competition_Applied_to_Engineer_A_Post-Departure_Solicitation_Permissibility a proeth:FreeandOpenCompetitionasEngineeringEthicsBoundaryCondition,
owl:NamedIndividual ;
rdfs:label "Free and Open Competition Applied to Engineer A Post-Departure Solicitation Permissibility" ;
proeth:appliedto "Engineer A's solicitation of ABC's clients after one year",
"The general permissibility of competing for former employer's clients" ;
proeth:balancingwith "Faithful Agent Obligation Within Ethical Limits",
"Post-Employment Confidential Information Non-Use Prohibition" ;
proeth:conceptCategory "Principle" ;
proeth:concreteexpression "Engineer A's solicitation of Clover City and other former ABC clients after one year is presumptively permissible under the principle of free and open competition, given the absence of a no-compete agreement and the passage of a reasonable transition period" ;
proeth:confidence "0.92" ;
proeth:discoveredincase "178" ;
proeth:discoveredinpass "2" ;
proeth:discoveredinsection "facts" ;
proeth:firstdiscoveredat "2026-03-01T08:27:34.942228+00:00" ;
proeth:firstdiscoveredincase "178" ;
proeth:generatedattime "2026-03-01T08:27:34.942228+00:00" ;
proeth:importance "high" ;
proeth:interpretation "Free and open competition principles support the permissibility of Engineer A's post-departure solicitation; the ethical constraints are on the manner of competition (no use of confidential information, no misrepresentation) rather than on competition itself" ;
proeth:invokedby "Engineer A Voluntary Non-Solicitation Period Departing Engineer" ;
proeth:principleclass "Free and Open Competition as Engineering Ethics Boundary Condition" ;
proeth:sourcetext "after a year has passed, Engineer A begins soliciting work from ABC's clients, including Clover City. There was no 'no-compete agreement' between Engineer A and ABC Engineering Company." ;
proeth:tensionresolution "Competition is permissible; confidentiality and honesty constraints govern the manner of competition" ;
proeth:textreferences "There was no 'no-compete agreement' between Engineer A and ABC Engineering Company.",
"after a year has passed, Engineer A begins soliciting work from ABC's clients, including Clover City" ;
proeth:wasattributedto "Case 178 Extraction" ;
prov:generatedAtTime "2026-03-01T08:48:26.011956"^^xsd:dateTime ;
prov:wasGeneratedBy "ProEthica Case 178 Extraction" .
Metadata
Extraction details
Discovered in case
178
Discovered in pass
2
Discovered in section
facts
First discovered
2026-03-01T08:27:34.942228+00:00
First case
178
Generated
2026-03-01T08:27:34.942228+00:00
Attributed to
Case 178 Extraction
Generated
2026-03-01T08:48:26.011956
Generated by
ProEthica Case 178 Extraction