Court of Appeal weighs in on non-compete clauses & interim injunctions

• Rare Court of Appeal consideration of approach to obtaining interim injunctive relief in relation to non-compete covenants.
• Considers the extent to which the court should grapple with meaning and merits, impact of damages as an adequate remedy for the parties and the effect of delay on grant of interim injunctive relief.
• Caselaw demonstrates flexible approach to fact sensitive cases, which may be difficult to replicate by proposed statutory intervention.

It is a rare treat for those employee competition law geeks among us to have the benefit of the Court of Appeal’s input in the context of obtaining interim injunctive relief. In Planon Limited v Gilligan [2022] EWCA Civ 642 and Boydell v NZP Ltd and others [2023] EWCA Civ 373, the appellate court shared its approach to elements of the test for granting injunctive relief laid down in American Cyanamid Co v Ethicon Ltd [1975] AC 396 and other procedural matters