[munk-a]

> For example, you sell a business to someone who pays you a big premium for your goodwill value usually tied to the value of the customer base. It is entirely fair that, having taken the money in exchange for the sale of your goodwill interest, you not be able to turn around the day after the close and effectively steal it back from your buyer by setting up a competing business and conducting raids to get back your old customers. A reasonable restriction on your ability to compete in that case makes eminent sense and is not in any way unfair.

During the sale the customer information and contacts can be (and by default usually are IIRC) considered an asset of the company, as such the seller reusing contacts can be considered a form of corporate espionage and can be prosecuted in that manner.

This holds just as clearly for departing employees, making unauthorized use of a company's assets after leaving a company is illegal whether it's sneaking in and using your old office or continuing to use contacts, just because in one of those cases the data might be in your phone doesn't change the legality.

But! This sort of corporate espionage is rather common and hard to prove. This brings us back to the commonly known point that sales people have a habit of ruining it for everyone else /s