Even after a year of explaining the supposed "contract issue," many people have yet to realize still that the VA switch had little, if anything, to do with the 4Kids contracts. Larry Juris (from TAJ Productions) and PUSA never offered the original VAs a chance to return for the 9th season, and it's that simple. None of the VAs were contacted about the switch until after it happened, and even then, no one was offered. The fact of the matter is, Eric, Veronica, Maddie, Rachael, Amy and Ted were never approached about making a decision to continue on for season 9 of Pokémon.
That notorious clause in the contract states that an actor cannot do a voice outside of 4Kids for at least two years from the end of the company's contract; however, there is no legal binds behind that clause. Larry claims he contacted the VAs, most notably Veronica Taylor, and offered to pay legal fees to help them out of the unfair exclusivity, but because the clause is, by all means of the word, a technicality, there would have been no legal issues if the original VAs continued with TAJ/PUSA.
And there is proof of this.
Kayzie Rogers and Jimmy Zoppi were two original voice actors on the show. Rogers voiced many Pokémon and Zoppi had the role of Gary Oak. Now, the two are working with TAJ and voicing Max (Rogers) and James and Meowth (Zoppi). Even so, they are now under the pseudonyms of "Jamie Peacock" and "Billy Beach." By voicing on Pokémon, the two have proven there was no legal binding to the clause in 4Kids' contracts, as they have not been sued or anything more. Rogers and Zoppi signed the same 4Kids' contracts at the same time of the rest of the original cast.
Breaking the clause in the contracts also does not mean 4Kids will immediately stop using an actor. It is not even stated anywhere in the contact the VAs are guaranteed to continue working for 4Kids at all. The contracts they signed were freelance, and every actor has the right to work with another company -- they are not exclusive to 4Kids either.
All the original VAs needed to continue working on Pokémon was an offer from TAJ/PUSA. But they were not given one.