Is It Legal for Companies to Sue Competitors for Poaching Employees Over Intellectual Property?

Hello!

I was just reading through some articles on the net about how companies sue their competitors who poached their employees for intellectual property theft. Could you help me understand the law behind this and whether it is legal to do so? I am thinking of writing an essay on this topic.

Thanks!

On the net, there is information on how companies sue their competitors who poached their employees for intellectual property theft. An employee is not a company's property; they are not a suitcase, bag, or computer to be stolen.

Let's consider this scenario: I am working with X company, and Y company approaches me with an offer. I decide to join Y company. Even if X company decides to file a case against Y, Y will most likely be in the clear. Why? Because I, as the employee, will support Y. I can attest that Y did not poach me; I had applied to them, and they selected me. Furthermore, if Y did poach me, all our discussions were verbal, and nothing was provided to me in writing stating that they would offer me more than what X is paying, and that I should leave X to join them.

What I meant to say was that some companies sue their competitors for intellectual property theft when they hire or poach employees from the company. I wanted to know if there is any law for such cases. For example, software companies sue their competitors, claiming that they have obtained key information from their company through the employees they recently hired, which constitutes theft of intellectual property.

On what basis can one file a case for intellectual property theft? Are there any prominent examples that can be cited?

Thanks!

When an employee resigns, a "non-disclosure agreement" and a "non-compete clause" come into prominence. That is, the company expects the former employee not to share proprietary information and not to enter into the same line of business for a limited time (the time bound is derived from the useful life of a patent). However, to sue somebody or a competitor, the crime has to occur or malicious intent has to be proven. The system of checks and balances in the above case is that company rights cannot infringe on an individual's right to freedom to choose any profession (Section 27, Indian Contract Act). For more information, read "ISO 27001" and ISO 28001.

Surya