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.
brad pitt on 13 Mar 12U.S. Senate Committee hearing on NASA budget and space program By Amanda Doyle, 12 March 2012 Neil deGrasse Tyson gives evidence to the U.S. Senate Committee March 7 2012 U.S. Senate Committee hears submissions on NASA's 2013 budget request & U.S. space program The U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation has been hearing submissions regarding NASA's 2013 budget request and on the priorities, plans and progress of the U.S. space program. Witnesses appearing before the Committee on March 7 included Charles F Bolden Jr, NASA's Administrator, and Dr Neil deGrasse Tyson, an astrophysicist and well known commentator on space exploration. Bolden, who flew on four space shuttle missions after a career in the Marine Corps, was appointed to lead NASA in 2009 after being nominated by President Obama. Administrator Bolden outlined the space agency's achievements in 2011 and updated the Committee on the status of current missions. His statement outlined how the requested budget of $17.7 billion for 2013 would be allocated and concluded by stating: "NASA's FY 2013 budget request of $17.7 billion represents a substantial investment in a balanced program of science, exploration, technology and aeronautics research. Despite the constrained budget environment facing the Nation, this request supports a robust space program that keeps us on a path to achieving a truly audacious set of goals. NASA is working to send humans to an asteroid and ultimately to Mars, to observe the first galaxies form, and to expand the productivity of humanity's only permanently-crewed space station. We are making air travel safer and more efficient, learning to live and work in space, and developing the critical technologies to achieve these goals. The coming year will include the first commercial cargo flights to the ISS, a nuclear powered robot the size of a small car landing on the surface of Mars, and the launch of the Nation's next land observing satellit
