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If I were Goldman, I wouldn't be worried that he would build a better version of my software. What I would be worried about is that he would analyze it, find holes in the methodology and figure out a way to screw me on my trades that are made with this software. Either by beating me to the punch, OR trying to game the market is such a way that my software would make a trade that is not advantageous to me.

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Although, one could also make the case that he already had access to the code before his departure as part of his daily responsibilities. Therefore, the fact that he was leaving had no real implications in him knowing the innards of the application and its source code.

What I don't understand is why there's no word about an NDA between Goldman and Mr Aleynikov. Had he been under contractual obligations, or bounded by a noncompete clause, Mr Aleynikov wouldn't have been incentivized to extract code from the repository to being with. It seems logical to me that if you're dealing with coveted IP, a contract between the parties is a necessity rather than a luxury.

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