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Newsjock

(11,733 posts)
Fri Jan 20, 2012, 12:12 PM Jan 2012

Damning Evidence Emerges In Google-Apple “No Poach” Antitrust Lawsuit

http://techcrunch.com/2012/01/19/damning-evidence-emerges-in-google-apple-no-poach-antitrust-lawsuit/

Next week a class-action civil lawsuit will be heard in San Jose to determine if Google, Apple, Pixar, Lucasfilm, Adobe, Intel, and Intuit conspired to eliminate competition for skilled labor. In anticipation of the hearing, TechCrunch has attained evidence from the Department of Justice’s investigation in 2010 which was made public this evening for the first time. It appears to support the plaintiff’s case that the defendant companies tried to suppress employee compensation by entering into “no poach” agreements.

Previously, only the DOJ was privy to the evidence, so there was no way for the public to know whether the settlement came out the defendants’ fear they would lose. Now we know the C-level management at these companies did enter into anti-competitive agreements.

... The evidence states that the defendants agreed not to poach employees from each other or give them offers if they voluntarily applied, and to notify the current employers of any employees trying to switch been. They also agreed not to enter into bidding wars and to limit the potential for employees to negotiate for higher salaries.

In one particularly juicy piece of evidence from May 2005, Adobe’s CEO Bruce Chizen emailed Steve Jobs regarding “Recruitment of Apple Employees”. In the message, Adobe’s SVP for human resources writes “Bruce and Steve Jobs have an agreement that we are not to solicit ANY Apple employees, and vice versa.”
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Damning Evidence Emerges In Google-Apple “No Poach” Antitrust Lawsuit (Original Post) Newsjock Jan 2012 OP
Greed just corrupts everything nt Mojorabbit Jan 2012 #1
Capitalists hate competition. nt bemildred Jan 2012 #2
Steve Jobs prefers to get his labor from the wage slave pool..oops now = preferred nt msongs Jan 2012 #3
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