Disregarding their use in tech or journalism, there are uses for them.<p>My wife and I own a gym (in addition to our full-time jobs) that has several salaried trainers on staff. They sign a non-compete that for 1 year from the date of termination, they cannot take a trainer job at any gym within a 5 mile radius from our location, and they cannot own more than 20% of any gym located within a 10 mile radius.<p>This prevents them from opening up shop across the street and taking half the clients with them. It prevents them from doing the same with a nearby competitor.<p>It is limited by time, has a specific geographic area, and is only for a specific job. They can do whatever they want beyond a 10 mile radius on day 1, or they can open up a gym on day 366 anywhere in the world.<p>We&#x27;ve never had to litigate it because it&#x27;s never come up, and if someone wasn&#x27;t happy and really wanted to get a job at a Gold&#x27;s two miles down the road, we would probably let them provided they didn&#x27;t spend their last week giving our clients their new business cards or something.