Non-Compete Clauses Thrown Out In California

drfuchs writes "If you signed an employment agreement in California, any non-compete clause in it is null & (void*), says the state Supreme Court of California (ruling PDF). Better still, the San Francisco Chronicle opines that the US Federal courts are likely to fall in line with the decision in the way they interpret California law. (Most other states still have non-compete laws on the books and it's not clear this ruling will affect them.) Turns out it wasn't a high-tech case at all, but a CPA who had worked for the accounting firm Arthur Anderson (now disgraced due to their complicity in the Enron case)."

Pointer

[Ethanol-fueled]

...any non-compete clause in it is null &(void*),...

So what does the address of a void pointer have to do with all this?

Null = Void

[debrain]

Random trivia: I've been told by a professor of law and classicist that "null" and "void" mean the same thing (in a legal sense), but are simply different languages. Putting them together is repetitive and unnecessary, although strangely customary.

I thought that interesting enough to share.

Re:Pointer

[the4thdimension]

Something tells me we are on our way to a de-referencing error. Best re-think the program flow here before the compiler pukes.

Re:Null = Void

[greedyturtle]

Look man, That's the only bad ass thing that lawyers get to say. Everything else is boring as hell. (Unless you're Al Pacino) Don't take that away from them.

Re:Null = Void

[Huge_UID]

You mean it is redundant and repeats itself?

Re:Disgraced Arthur Anderson

[thermian]

Using your logic, working for a failed software firm should disqualify one for further software employment.

If you worked on Daikatana, then I would say this should apply, yes.

Re:Disgraced Arthur Anderson

[hedwards]

What about if you work on DNF? Does that count as a failure because it's been like 10 years and no release, or does failure wait until it's formally not released?

Re:Disgraced Arthur Anderson

[uniquename72]

DNF designers are in a great position -- 10 years of "Vaporware of the Year" awards have to count for something.

Re:Pointer

[Creepy]

well if it survives the compiler, it's just a glorified memset to 0.

null = 00000000
null &(void*) can be anything
& = bitwise and
so always equals 00000000.

Hahaha score one for C

[johannesg]

Those smug Java-bastards will no doubt be scratching their collective heads now - hahaha, you wish you had a void* now huh?

The only job left for you in the future will be collecting garbage!

(I think I can see the humorless trolls circling already ;-) )

Re:Null = Void

[Solandri]

If something is voided, it means whatever it is exists, but is no longer in effect. If something is nullified, it means that whatever is was no longer exists.

So voiding is like dereferencing a pointer, and nullifying is like releasing memory?

Re:Disgraced Arthur Anderson

[Scott Kevill]

He said "further software employment." You're assuming they will ever finish working on DNF.