01/27, 11:45am
Apple, Google must face job poaching claims
Northern California district court judge Lucy Koh ruled late Thursday that multiple technologies can't dismiss a lawsuit over anti-poaching deals. Adobe, Apple, Google, Intel, Intuit, Lucasfilm, and Pixar will have to face the allegations that they unfairly hurt compensation and job chances by making informal pacts to avoid recruiting each other's staff. Judge Koh's view echoed those of the raw evidence, which confirmed individual deals but didn't show that the industry at large was colluding against recruiting attempts.
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01/20, 8:55am
DOJ shows no hiring conspiracy, but small deals
Newly publicized evidence in the wake of an agreement to stop no-poaching deals among Silicon Valley technology companies has shown that several firms did ultimately have deals but stopped short of colluding on a larger level. Although short on details of the supposed Apple-Google agreement, an e-mail message from Adobe Senior VP of human resources Theresa Townsley confirmed that Adobe and Apple had an informal rule against hiring each other's staff. At least in 2005, Adobe chief Bruce Chizen and Apple's Steve Jobs had blocked attempts to get each other's staff.
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05/04, 4:00pm
Apple, Adobe, Google, Lucasfilm included in suit
Former Lucasfilm employee Siddharth Hariharan has filed a lawsuit against a long list of tech companies, accusing the group of conspiring to limit compensation for key staff. Joseph Saveri, the attorney representing Hariharan, claims the "no solicitation" agreements, which prohibit companies from poaching employees from competitors, violate antitrust laws. The list of accused companies includes Adobe, Apple, Google, Intel, Intuit, Lucasfilm and Pixar.
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07/20, 6:45pm
Verizon may have special Star Wars edition Droid 2
Verizon may give the Motorola Droid 2 a surprise special edition when it ships next month, an insider hinted on Tuesday. The phone should ship slightly earlier than expected, on August 12, but will notably come with a Star Wars edition with a white R2-D2 on its back. In giving the tip, the Engadget source didn't say whether it would ship at the same time as the plain model.
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05/04, 4:00pm
TomTom offers Star Wars character voice to GPSs
TomTom has teamed up with Lucasfilm and VoiceSkins to bring official Star Wars voices to its portable navigation devices. The first available voice will be that of Darth Vader, which has launched on Tuesday and can be downloaded immediately. The voice of C-3PO arrives in June, with Yoda's arriving in July and Han Solo's joining the fray in August.
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