In most jurisdictions, courts routinely "blue pencil" or reform covenants that are not reasonable.
The blue pencil doctrine gives courts the authority to either strike unreasonable clauses from a noncompete agreement,
leaving the rest to be enforced,
or actually modify the agreement to reflect the terms that the parties
The blue pencil doctrine gives courts the authority to either strike unreasonable clauses from a noncompete agreement,
leaving the rest to be enforced,
or actually modify the agreement to reflect the terms that the parties
could have — and
probably should have — agreed to.
The term stems from the act of editing written copy with a blue pencil.
