[Article/Unfair Competition Prevention Act] The Validity and Scope of Contracts Prohibiting the Use of Know-How after Leaving Employment (Takuto Hirasawa)
更新日：3 日前
Article information
Article type: Publication review
Category: Unfair competition law
Topics: —
First published on this website: 2026-11-01
Display and classification checked: November 2, 2026
Originally published on Ameblo: 2025-01-07 (Japan time). Full English translation.
[Article/Unfair Competition Prevention Act] The Validity and Scope of Contracts Prohibiting the Use of Know-How after Leaving Employment (Takuto Hirasawa, Intellectual Property Law and Policy Journal, Vol. 31 (2010))
Osaka High Court, 2009 (Ne) 1456: the rights holder lost on reversal.
⇒ Of the appellee's technologies, the portions used by the appellants “include, to a substantial extent, existing technologies or technologies that a practitioner of eyebrow beauty treatments could readily acquire or master, and the appellee cannot secure exclusive rights in those portions alone.”
To the same effect: Tokyo District Court, 2006 (Wa) 15404.
“It is appropriate to construe the noncompetition agreement at issue as prohibiting only business conducted using confidential business information held by the plaintiff. Business conducted using knowledge, experience and the like concerning routine, general operations acquired by the defendant while working for the plaintiff, or using knowledge, experience and the like held by the defendant before the contract at issue, is not subject to the noncompetition obligation.”
The article also introduces numerous other court decisions and considers the limits of post-employment noncompetition obligations. For example, one decision limited the period for which an injunction based on a noncompetition obligation could be granted to two years (Tokyo District Court, 2006 (Wa) 22955, the “Total Service” case).
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November 1, 2026: First published on this website.
November 2, 2026: Added article information, classification, topics, language navigation, related articles where the same case was confirmed, consultation guidance, and SEO. The original text and first-published date were preserved.
