Justice Department Requires Six High Tech Companies to Stop Entering into Anticompetitive Employee Solicitation Agreements

The Department of Justice announced today that it has reached a settlement with six high technology companies-Adobe Systems Inc., Apple Inc., Google Inc., Intel Corp., Intuit Inc. and Pixar-that prevents them from entering into no solicitation agreements for employees.

The department said that the agreements eliminated a significant form of competition to attract highly skilled employees, and overall diminished competition to the detriment of affected employees who were likely deprived of competitively important information and access to better job opportunities. The Department of Justice's Antitrust Division filed a civil antitrust complaint today in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, along with a proposed settlement that, if approved by the court, would resolve the lawsuit. According to the complaint, the six companies entered into agreements that restrained competition between them for highly skilled employees. The agreements between Apple and Google, Apple and Adobe, Apple and Pixar and Google and Intel prevented the companies from directly soliciting each other's employees. An agreement between Google and Intuit prevented Google from directly soliciting Intuit employees. The proposed settlement, which if accepted by the court will be in effect for five years, prohibits the companies from engaging in anticompetitive no solicitation agreements. Although the complaint alleges only that the companies agreed to ban cold calling, the proposed settlement more broadly prohibits the companies from entering, maintaining or enforcing any agreement that in any way prevents any person from soliciting, cold calling, recruiting, or otherwise competing for employees. The companies will also implement compliance measures tailored to these practices.