RIM sues Motorola for blocking hiring of workers: report

[CHIMO]

Source: CBC News

BlackBerry maker Research In Motion Ltd. is suing fellow mobile phone manufacturer Motorola Inc., alleging it is improperly blocking it from hiring laid-off employees, according to a report.

The two companies signed an agreement earlier this year not to poach each other's employees, but the deal expired in August and is no longer enforceable, according to court documents obtained by Bloomberg News.

Motorola is now trying to expand the deal "to prevent the RIM entities from hiring any Motorola employees, including the thousands of employees Motorola has already fired or will fire,” the documents said. The lawsuit was filed on Tuesday in Illinois state court in Chicago.

Waterloo, Ont.-based RIM could not be reached on Wednesday to confirm the filing.



Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2008/12/24/tech-rim.html

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Last Updated: Wednesday, December 24, 2008 | 12:15 PM ET

It's called free enterprise.

[Idealism]

1. Free Market Capitalism at its finest

Crooks and con-men all willing to step on the heads of the little guy to be king of the hill.

[Acadia Blue]

2. Capitalism is as much a failure as communism.

[The_Commonist]

3. Nobody ever REALLY tried communism.

Just sayin'...

[merwin]

7. Didn't hippies in the 60's and 70's try it out?

Communism is a great concept, but it leaves out individual greed and can only really work on a small scale.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

4. Real smart there Moto

All your going to get out of this is an Edwards v. Arthur Andersen ruling for the State of Illinois and one seriously pissed off judge.

[merwin]

5. I don't know if non-compete agreements apply to laid off employees.

Especially if they were laid off in large numbers. I don't think a court would particularly go for that.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

6. enforcing a non-compete against anybody is difficult in most states

Trying to enforce one against any involuntarily terminated employees without extraordinary compensation is virtually impossible. Motorola has to go into court and explain why the people they fired don't have a right to earn a living in their given profession.

[merwin]

8. And that they're in a position to give away proprietary information.

Most cell phone companies make every employee, down to Customer Care employees sign non-compete agreements... even though they are almost never enforced, unless it's an executive leaving for another company. (until now)

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

9. some ex-Moto guy might leak the next version of the C139 to RIM

I know somebody who got "golden handcuffs" after being forced out of a tech company, he developed the firmware at the core of the companies top selling product line and he was paid a large sum not to work for a list of companies for five years.

But Motorola firing 3000 people and trying to keep them from working for their only real employment prospects is just being cunts.

The firm I work for simply ignores non-compete agreements globally, we get the odd nasty letter demanding the immediate termination of our new hire, which we reply to with a form letter that says we are incorporated in California and to fuck off. We have never been sued in another state for ignoring a non-compete.