Local email/list service provider WhatCounts squared off in King County Superior Court against bay area email/list provider Strongmail.  An employee who worked for WhatCounts (for 6 months) is now employed by Strongmail, allegedly in violation of the noncompete he signed with WhatCounts.  Both sides (in Strongmail's case, the employee, Stephen DeCourcy) filed complaints in King County Superior Court in the last couple of days, seeking enforcement and invalidation of the noncompete, respectively.  (Access WhatCounts' Complaint here (pdf) and DeCourcy's Complaint here (pdf).)

Seems like an otherwise ho hum dispute - not to minimize the interests involved.  But my first instinct is that Washington employers are getting more and more aggressive about trying to enforce noncompetes, even when there are no trade secrets involved.  In many cases the noncompetes are quite broad, signed without reference to the position involved.  I'm not sure why employers are quick to do this?  Maybe to try to send a message to the industry?  It may be worth stepping back when it comes to unleashing your lawyers on the employee who leaves to join a competitor.  You wouldn't want the legislature to step in and then you end up with a statute like the one they have over in California. 
 
More:  on a semi-related note, Washington Democratic party fundraiser Colby Underwood obtained a preliminary injunction against ex-employee McKenna Hartman based on a noncompete/trade secrets theory.  The parties were in court on Friday, and the court "dissolved" the preliminary injunction, allowing Hartman to conduct business pending a trial on the merits.  That pretty much puts the case on ice for Underwood.  Slog reports here.   (Hartman's attorney is a friend of mine.)