The linked-to NYT article has a story about a hairdresser whose previous employer went to court and succeeded in banning them from working for any "nearby town" for a year -- even though this is unreasonable by any sane standard.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/09/business/noncompete-clause...
Insert "cutting edge" joke here, but at the end of the day, if you've signed a non-compete, there is at the very least an element of risk in willfully ignoring it.
Re:Non Compete Clauses Reduce Innovation
by marcus_holmes on Monday June 09, 2014 @07:39PM
(#7871142)
Don't forget that the threat of legal action can often be a deterrent even if the legal action has little chance of succeeding.
Don't waste your time with long term non-competes unless you're doing something so cutting edge that it is the commercial equivalent of performing work for national security. To put it plainly, if you're that concerned about a person who USED TO work with you competing against you, then you're not exactly very confident in the core capabilities and innovation potential of your company.
Intellectual property is one thing, but non-competes beyond the tenure of one's employment are too often a complete waste of time, money and effort to create and enforce.