Contractual law : restrictive covenants differ depending on the intention of the parties, the nature of the obligations that these convenants give rise to, as well as the type of contract in which they are found

Commercial law, contractual law, contract of employment, sale of assets, non-competition clause, non-solicitation clause : In a decision rendered in January 2013, the Supreme Court of Canada decided that the nature of a given contract must first be specified in order to determine the rules that will be applicable to said contract. The interpretation of rules are much more generous in a commercial context than they in a contract of employment, seeing as the latter aims to provide employees with an adequate protection. It is thus necessary to distinguish the scope of a restrictive convenant based on whether the clause is found within a commercial agreement or a contract of employment. In a commercial context, a restrictive covenant will be considered legal and lawful, unless it can be shown that the application of the clause is contrary to public order or has unreasonable effects on a given party. Furthermore, a non-solicitation clause that does not provide a territorial limitation is not necessarily unreasonable, as geographical restrictions in non-solicitaton clauses have generally become obsolete (Payette v. Guay inc., 2013 CSC 45). Dubé Légal inc., Montréal commercial law lawyers.