THORNDYKE%USC-ISI@sri-unix.UUCP (04/17/84)
From: Perry W. Thorndyke <THORNDYKE@USC-ISI> Response to Fahlman's message on noncompetition clauses: Scott, We continually hire AI talent into our for-profit, public company to conduct R&D on expert systems, surrogate instructors, intelligent human- machine interfaces, and distributed AI. Several of our products contain proprietary hardware-software designs and our market advantage depends on maintaining a technology edge in those product areas, which include videodic/graphics display systems. Yet we have no such noncompetition clause, nor have we considered imposing one. Given that it is a seller's market for AI talent now, it's hard to believe that any company could get away with imposing such a policy--assuming that it is even legally enforcable. My experience in the AI field is that conflict-of- interest considerations do not extend beyond the term of employment of the individual, except for non-disclosure of proprietary information. The policy you cited seems extreme and undesirable, and constitutes a moral, if not legal, unfair restraint of trade. Perry Thorndyke Perceptronics, Inc. thorndyke@usc-isi