Voluntary Non-Solicitation Period Demonstrated by Engineer A
P · Principle
Individual
http://proethica.org/ontology/case/178#Voluntary_Non-Solicitation_Period_Demonstrated_by_Engineer_A
Properties
Instance of
VoluntaryNon-SolicitationPeriodasEthicalTransitionPractice
http://proethica.org/ontology/intermediate#VoluntaryNon-SolicitationPeriodasEthicalTransitionPractice
Applied to
Engineer A's post-departure conduct regarding ABC's client relationships
Balancing with
Client Autonomy in Engineering Service Provider Selection
Free and Open Competition as Engineering Ethics Boundary Condition
Concrete expression
Engineer A voluntarily refrained from soliciting ABC's clients, including Clover City, for approximately six months to over a year after establishing his own firm — a voluntary restraint not required by any contractual obligation but reflecting professional integrity in the transition
Confidence
0.92
Importance
high
Interpretation
The voluntary waiting period demonstrated professional good faith and was a significant factor in the Board's finding that Engineer A's conduct was ethical and reasonable
Invoked by
Engineer A Voluntary Non-Solicitation Period Departing Engineer
Tension resolution
The voluntary restraint was found to be supererogatory conduct that supported the ethical permissibility of Engineer A's eventual competition with ABC
Source Evidence
Source text
Engineer A still declined an apparent offer of work by Clover City, decided not to compete directly with his former employer, ABC, and waited for a period of over a year before deciding to go into competition with his former employer, ABC.
Text references
Engineer A still declined an apparent offer of work by Clover City, decided not to compete directly with his former employer, ABC, and waited for a period of over a year before deciding to go into competition with his former employer, ABC.
There was no formal written agreement between Engineer A and ABC that would address the issue of whether and under what terms Engineer A could compete with ABC after departing from ABC.
We believe Engineer A's conduct is appropriate and within the bounds of what would be considered reasonable
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:Voluntary_Non-Solicitation_Period_Demonstrated_by_Engineer_A a proeth:VoluntaryNon-SolicitationPeriodasEthicalTransitionPractice,
owl:NamedIndividual ;
rdfs:label "Voluntary Non-Solicitation Period Demonstrated by Engineer A" ;
proeth:appliedto "Engineer A's post-departure conduct regarding ABC's client relationships" ;
proeth:balancingwith "Client Autonomy in Engineering Service Provider Selection",
"Free and Open Competition as Engineering Ethics Boundary Condition" ;
proeth:conceptCategory "Principle" ;
proeth:concreteexpression "Engineer A voluntarily refrained from soliciting ABC's clients, including Clover City, for approximately six months to over a year after establishing his own firm — a voluntary restraint not required by any contractual obligation but reflecting professional integrity in the transition" ;
proeth:confidence "0.92" ;
proeth:discoveredincase "178" ;
proeth:discoveredinpass "2" ;
proeth:discoveredinsection "discussion" ;
proeth:firstdiscoveredat "2026-03-01T08:35:45.392536+00:00" ;
proeth:firstdiscoveredincase "178" ;
proeth:generatedattime "2026-03-01T08:35:45.392536+00:00" ;
proeth:importance "high" ;
proeth:interpretation "The voluntary waiting period demonstrated professional good faith and was a significant factor in the Board's finding that Engineer A's conduct was ethical and reasonable" ;
proeth:invokedby "Engineer A Voluntary Non-Solicitation Period Departing Engineer" ;
proeth:principleclass "Voluntary Non-Solicitation Period as Ethical Transition Practice" ;
proeth:sourcetext "Engineer A still declined an apparent offer of work by Clover City, decided not to compete directly with his former employer, ABC, and waited for a period of over a year before deciding to go into competition with his former employer, ABC." ;
proeth:tensionresolution "The voluntary restraint was found to be supererogatory conduct that supported the ethical permissibility of Engineer A's eventual competition with ABC" ;
proeth:textreferences "Engineer A still declined an apparent offer of work by Clover City, decided not to compete directly with his former employer, ABC, and waited for a period of over a year before deciding to go into competition with his former employer, ABC.",
"There was no formal written agreement between Engineer A and ABC that would address the issue of whether and under what terms Engineer A could compete with ABC after departing from ABC.",
"We believe Engineer A's conduct is appropriate and within the bounds of what would be considered reasonable" ;
proeth:wasattributedto "Case 178 Extraction" ;
prov:generatedAtTime "2026-03-01T08:48:26.020460"^^xsd:dateTime ;
prov:wasGeneratedBy "ProEthica Case 178 Extraction" .
Metadata
Extraction details
Discovered in case
178
Discovered in pass
2
Discovered in section
discussion
First discovered
2026-03-01T08:35:45.392536+00:00
First case
178
Generated
2026-03-01T08:35:45.392536+00:00
Attributed to
Case 178 Extraction
Generated
2026-03-01T08:48:26.020460
Generated by
ProEthica Case 178 Extraction