You are similarly "allowed" to search for another job while working for a company, which is 1:1 comparable to your idea of the company looking for your replacement while you are still there.

What the company isn't doing is billing you for the time they spend doing it, or having you spend your free time doing it while you are at home.

What someone does in their own free time with their own resources is their business. What they do while they are at work, getting paid is "company" business and should be treated as such.

These aren't at all comparable unless the employee can use the employer's time, money, and resources to search for a better job.

Beyond this, I find it ridiculous that you're comparing humans with thoughts and feelings and limited time on this earth to wholly inanimate corporations. We should err on the side of giving humans more freedom and liberty.

> These aren't at all comparable unless the employee can use the employer's time, money, and resources to search for a better job.

That's exactly what Apple this case is about, an employee who is being accused of using his employer's time, money, and resources to not just search for a better job, but to create a multi-million dollar company.

I am paid a salary, and it's understood by my employer and I that some business days I may work less than 8 hours and some business days I may work more, some days I may arrive later and leave later, and some earlier, and additionally I may work on weekends and holidays. So, my employer doesn't really have a leg to stand on if they say that I used time I sold to them to pursue my own interests, because there is no explicit agreement that any specific amount (or "non-fungible unit") of my time is theirs. Neither can they say I used their equipment or resources, if I didn't.

What basis remains upon which they can claim that I used "their" time and/or their resources and/or their equipment to conduct personal business?