FTA: "...except for a small number of limited circumstances"

If I'm not mistaken, one of those circumstances is the sale of a business. I wouldn't be surprised if G does have an enforceable agreement in place.

I realized that afterwards:

"If an owner is selling the goodwill in their business."

Though it still has to be "reasonable." And that probably means its expired.

The deal was done in 2005. Anyone know how long a non-compete type agreement in an acquisition usually is?

Would it qualify as competition if Google is no longer in the business of providing the service?

My guess is that it wouldn't matter as long as the contract was still in effect. What if Google just hadn't announced that they were planning to relaunch Dodgeball or changed their minds...