• Home
  • Latest
  • Fortune 500
  • Finance
  • Tech
  • Leadership
  • Lifestyle
  • Rankings
  • Multimedia
TechFortune 500

Amazon and Former Exec Settle Non-Compete Dispute

Barb Darrow
By
Barb Darrow
Barb Darrow
Down Arrow Button Icon
June 22, 2017, 7:32 AM ET

Amazon and a former executive have settled their legal dispute, meaning that the executive, Gene Farrell, can work at Smartsheet.

Two weeks ago, Amazon sued Farrell, alleging that he could not perform his new job as senior vice president of product at Smartsheet, a provider of business collaboration software, without disclosing proprietary Amazon Web Services information. At issue was a non-compete agreement Farrell had with his former employer.

Related: Amazon Sues Former Exec, Invoking Non Compete Agreement

Last Friday, a Kings County court administrator in Washington state issued a temporary injunction to prevent Farrell from working at the software company. The lawsuit has now been dismissed, according to a Smartsheet spokesperson.

Smartsheet provided Fortune with the following statement:

The dispute between Gene Farrell and Amazon has been resolved based on temporary restrictions on the scope of Gene’s role at Smartsheet consistent with his agreement with Amazon. We are pleased to have Gene back on the team as we continue to focus on serving our customers and growing our business.

Fortune contacted Amazon (AMZN) for comment. In a statement, furnished to tech news site Geekwire, which broke the news of the lawsuit last week, Amazon said it works to resolve such cases in a way that protects the company and enables employees to take new jobs.

“In this particular instance, we were‎ forced to resolve in court. Once we prevailed in court, we were able to reach an agreement with Smartsheet that placed temporary restrictions on the scope of Gene’s role at Smartsheet consistent with his agreement with Amazon,” according to the statement.

Get Data Sheet, Fortune’s technology newsletter.

Non-compete agreements, which many tech companies make new employees sign as a condition of employment, are controversial. Such agreements preclude that employee from working for a direct competitor upon leaving his or her current job. Some states, including Washington, where both companies are based, recognize these agreements while others, like California, make them difficult to enforce.

But even in California, some execs joining tech companies in Silicon Valley have found they cannot work on projects that compete directly with their former employers for a period of time. Such was the case for former EMC executive David Donatelli, who took a job with Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) a few years back. He was not able to work on HP’s storage products—the area where HP competed most directly with EMC—for a year.

These contracts are controversial. Opponents say they restrict a person’s freedom to move around. Proponents say they protect a company’s investment in training employees. Legislators in Washington and Massachusetts, which also recognizes non-compete agreements, have introduced legislation to limit their scope.

About the Author
Barb Darrow
By Barb Darrow
See full bioRight Arrow Button Icon

Latest in Tech

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025

Most Popular

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Rankings
  • 100 Best Companies
  • Fortune 500
  • Global 500
  • Fortune 500 Europe
  • Most Powerful Women
  • Future 50
  • World’s Most Admired Companies
  • See All Rankings
Sections
  • Finance
  • Leadership
  • Success
  • Tech
  • Asia
  • Europe
  • Environment
  • Fortune Crypto
  • Health
  • Retail
  • Lifestyle
  • Politics
  • Newsletters
  • Magazine
  • Features
  • Commentary
  • Mpw
  • CEO Initiative
  • Conferences
  • Personal Finance
  • Education
Customer Support
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Customer Service Portal
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms Of Use
  • Single Issues For Purchase
  • International Print
Commercial Services
  • Advertising
  • Fortune Brand Studio
  • Fortune Analytics
  • Fortune Conferences
  • Business Development
About Us
  • About Us
  • Editorial Calendar
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Diversity And Inclusion
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map

Latest in Tech

AIautonomy
Waymo chaos during San Francisco power outage likely due to ‘operational management failure’ instead of software flaw, expert says
By Jaimie Ding and The Associated PressDecember 22, 2025
4 hours ago
BankingBank of America
Bank of America’s Moynihan says AI’s economic benefit is ‘kicking in more’
By Katherine Chiglinsky, Steve Dickson and BloombergDecember 22, 2025
7 hours ago
man in suit
Personal FinanceCryptocurrency
Notorious crypto conman Sam Bankman-Fried has a prison passion project: giving legal advice to other inmates
By Carlos GarciaDecember 22, 2025
7 hours ago
AI nude
CybersecurityEducation
13-year-old girl attacked a boy showing an AI-generated nude image of her. She was expelled
By Heather Hollingsworth, Jack Brook and The Associated PressDecember 22, 2025
8 hours ago
AITech
In 2000 Larry Page said Google was ‘nowhere near’ the ultimate search engine—25 years later, Gemini might be close
By Marco Quiroz-GutierrezDecember 22, 2025
8 hours ago
Photo of Colin Angle
InnovationAutomation
‘It’s a cage match’: Beleaguered iRobot founder says the biggest reason why the Roomba-maker failed was because of growing Chinese competition
By Sasha RogelbergDecember 22, 2025
10 hours ago

Most Popular

placeholder alt text
Future of Work
Meet a 55-year-old automotive technician in Arkansas who didn’t care if his kids went to college: ‘There are options’
By Muskaan ArshadDecember 21, 2025
2 days ago
placeholder alt text
Success
Billionaire philanthropy's growing divide: Mark Zuckerberg stops funding immigration reform as MacKenzie Scott doubles down on DEI
By Ashley LutzDecember 22, 2025
9 hours ago
placeholder alt text
Success
Multimillionaire musician Will.i.am says work-life balance is for people 'working on someone else’s dream'—he grinds from 5-to-9 after his 9-to-5
By Orianna Rosa RoyleDecember 21, 2025
1 day ago
placeholder alt text
Success
Former U.S. Secret Service agent says bringing your authentic self to work stifles teamwork: 'You don’t get high performers, you get sloppiness'
By Sydney LakeDecember 22, 2025
11 hours ago
placeholder alt text
Travel & Leisure
After pouring $450 million into Florida real estate, Larry Ellison plans to lure the ultrarich to an exclusive town just minutes from Mar-a-Lago
By Marco Quiroz-GutierrezDecember 22, 2025
13 hours ago
placeholder alt text
Future of Work
A Walmart employee nearly doubled her pay after entering its pipeline for skilled tradespeople. 'I was able to move out of my parents' house'
By Anne D'Innocenzio and The Associated PressDecember 20, 2025
2 days ago

© 2025 Fortune Media IP Limited. All Rights Reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy | CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information
FORTUNE is a trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, registered in the U.S. and other countries. FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.