[yebyen]

Thank you!

I was going to give another "not a lawyer but" reply, since I had heard that the only conditions in which a non-compete could be legal in California was if the owner of the business was selling his stake along with his own good-will, and then could be barred from competing as part of the terms of the agreement of sale.

But at a glance that's only 16601 from the page you linked, the page goes on for another 6 whole sections of code after that. So, there are more ways it can be legal in CA.