The deputy director of an IT company resigned and
opened their own company. The IT company learned that this new company had entered
into a service relationship with a long-standing client of the IT company, even
though the former employee had a non-solicitation agreement with the IT company
for one year. The IT company filed a motion with the court for a interlocutory
injunction. When the court considered this matter, the main criterion was
whether the new company had entered into a contract with the specified client.
Since the former employee could not provide the court with a written contract,
the court granted the IT company's motion.
In two separate decisions in April 2025, the Hong Kong
High Court first refused, but then allowed, an IT company’s application for an
interlocutory injunction to enforce post-termination restrictive covenants
against its former employee and his newly set-up rival company.