Postscript on Non-Compete Clauses, Contractual Disputes and Splitting Atoms

(by Bruce Lyons) The European Commission last week agreed legally binding commitments by Siemens and Areva to reduce the product scope and duration of their excessive non-compete clauses.  This follows the break-up of their nuclear technology joint venture.  Some of these clauses had been for 11 years from the break-up and others encompassed markets in which the JV did not even have its own products.  The settlement struck down the latter and reduced the duration of others to a maximum of three years.

This comes exactly two years after I wrote a blog on this case which is fascinating for its economic and political intrigue.  Meanwhile, the tragic tsunami in Japan (March 2011) has fundamentally changed the medium-term prospects for nuclear power.  I can only wonder how this decline in nuclear prospects may have affected the urgency and terms of settlement.