Non-compete agreement

Business
1

The company I work for sells certain electronics. A co-worker and myself are interested in starting an online store that sells batteries. The company I work for uses these batteries in some of their products and sells them as accessories on their web site.

I signed a non-compete agreement when I came to work here. In essence it says we can’t compete “directly or indirectly” with this company for 2 years.

Does this mean that legally we can’t sell any specific product that my company sells even if it’s through a business channel such as ebay or amazon that this company refuses to sell the product through?

Does this mean that we can’t sell any product types that my company does even if they’re different model numbers? For instance, if we wanted to sell batteries that are different from the batteries my work sells, could we still do that if they aren’t carried here?

2

“In essence” doesn’t provide us with the details required to tell you that, plus we would be bad people to ask as we are not lawyers.

Based on what little information you have provided you would be competing with them and and at risk of losing your job and getting sued but if you even want to think about this you need to bring your non-compete agreement to a lawyer versed in the laws of your country.

3

Most contracts aren’t that hard to understand. What does the agreement actually say?