Several of the big names in the technology industry is now facing an antitrust case that alleges a conspiracy was made among Pixar, Intuit, Lucasfilm, Apple, Adobe, Intel and Google in their attempt to halt staff poaching.
According to Norton Scientific Journal, the said companies made a deal to stop offering positions to each other’s employees without the permission of the current employer first. The antitrust charge, where the late Steve Jobs of Apple has played a major role in, argues that the collusion had cost workers in the technology industry millions of dollars in lost chances.
California Judge Lucy Koh gave the green light to proceed with the lawsuit after it was found that there is a reason to infer such important policies would have to be approved by the companies’ highest authorities. The court rejected the defendants’ bid to have the claims dismissed brought under the Cartwright Act and the federal Sherman antitrust law.
The involved companies have previously requested the case to be dismissed for lack of evidence but Judge Koh believes there is a possibility that they really conspired to not poach each other’s staff.
In her decision released this week, Koh said that the existence of such “Do Not Cold Call” deal among the defendants “supports the possible inference that the deals were discussed, reached, enforced at the highest levels” of the firms. Koh added, “The fact that all six identical bilateral agreements were reached in secrecy among seven defendants in a span of two years suggests that these agreements resulted from collusion, and not from coincidence.