Case: Individual Employment Rights/Unfair Competition (Cal. Ct. App., 2d Dist.)

Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation and Fox 21, Inc. were entitled to summary judgment on their unfair competition claim against Netflix, Inc. as well as an injunction prohibiting Netflix from soliciting employees under contract with Fox, a California court of appeal affirmed. Fox’s agreements contained nondisclosure and nonsolicitation provisions, and were used to “lock in” or “gain control” over employees, the court said. Even if a unilateral option to extend the agreements for two years is assumed to violate public policy, it could be severed without affecting any material term of the agreements, the court noted. Evidence showed Netflix intentionally ...