Posted by Spencer Sink.
Recently, Arthur Valdez, a former employee of Amazon.com, was hired to work for Target as their chief supply chain and logistics officer–but there may be a problem. The problem is that he could be forced to disclose classified information about Amazon.com and how they run their business. Because of this, Amazon.com sued Valdez for an unspecified amount of money on the grounds of the “non-compete clause” in his employment contract. The non-compete clause states that one cannot work for a rival company of his previous employer until 18 months have passed. Valdez was hired before the required 18 months had passed.
This is a huge case for Amazon.com, as Target has recently been trying to increase sales in their online store. Valdez, having worked with Amazon.com for 16 years, could most definitely share all of the secrets to success with Target, which would negatively affect the business of Amazon.com. Target is defending Valdez by saying that they have taken the necessary steps to ensure that the secrets of Amazon.com are not disclosed to them.
It is going to be interesting to see what happens with this case. If I had to make a prediction, I would say that Amazon.com will win this case, as I feel that Target has no real evidence supporting their statement that Valdez has not disclosed any information to them.
Spencer is a business law student at the Stillman School of Business, Seton Hall University.