Prior to this, the restrictions on non-competes varied by jurisdiction. Many were similar to Texas:
Under Texas law noncompete agreements can be enforceable if:
The noncompete provision is part of an otherwise enforceable agreement.
The non-compete requirement is supported by valid consideration (consideration meaning something of value provided to the employee).
The non-compete requirement is reasonable in geographic scope, timeframe, and activities being restrained.
The factors were issues for a jury. Even with this change from the FTC, I expect companies will still be able to pursue prohibitively expensive litigation against former employees for things like theft of trade secrets. Even a bogus claim can cost many thousands of dollars to defend even if it is meritless.