On the face of it, Silicon Valley’s tech behemoths like Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL) and others seem like arch rivals, but the 2011 lawsuit involving tech employees has united them. The lawsuit filed by a group of tech workers alleged that major tech companies which included Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL) among others conspired to stop poaching employees from each other. The case which has been dragging on since then has reached a new milestone as revealed by re/code in one of its articles.
According to the article, four main defendants in the lawsuit which includes Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL) and Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) have resumed talks with the plaintiff tech workers. The two parties had proposed a $324.5 million settlement in the case, which was rejected by a California federal judge, last month.
Re/code figured out this latest development by going through the latest court filings. The article mentioned that according to the court filing, both parties have resumed mediation with a retired judge. Both sides refused to divulge any other details related to the case, though they have requested the judge Lucy H. Koh to schedule a new trial date for the case. None of the parties involved in the case have confirmed the above mentioned details.
The most important evidence used by the tech workers in this case has been the several e-mails exchanged between Steve Jobs, Eric Schmidt and executives from rival companies in which they hatched plans regarding how to stop poaching each other’s valuable employees. In the lawsuit the tech employees alleged the companies of limiting their mobility and in effect, keeping their salaries in check, by hatching such kind of conspiracy.
As of June 30, 2014, Ken Fisher’s Fisher Asset Management owns over 745,000 shares in Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL) and Carl Icahn’s Icahn Capital LP owns over 52 million shares in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL).
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