US Tech Probe Nears End

Several of the US's largest technology companies are in advanced talks with the Justice Department to avoid a court battle over whether they colluded to hold down wages by agreeing not to poach each other's employees.

The companies, which include Google, Apple, Intel, Adobe, Intuit and Walt Disney unit Pixar Animation, are in the final stages of negotiations with the government, according to people familiar with the matter. The talks are still fluid, these people said, with some companies more willing to settle to avoid an antitrust case than others. If negotiations falter, both sides could be headed for a defining court battle that could help decide the legality of such arrangements throughout the U.S. economy. Still, there are powerful incentives for both sides to settle the potential civil case before it reaches that stage. The Justice Department would have to convince a court not just that such accords existed, but that workers had suffered significant harm as a result.