Apple, others sued over anti-poaching agreements

Apple was among a group of companies sued earlier this week over so-called “anti-poaching” agreements. The law firm of Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein announced that Apple, along with Adobe, Google, Intel, Intuit, Lucasfilm, and Pixar, has been named in a class action lawsuit filed by former Lucasfilm engineer Siddharth Hariharan, claiming that the companies violated antitrust laws by conspiring to fix the pay of their employees and entering into “No Solicitation” agreements with each other. As noted in the announcement, an agreement between Lucasfilm and Pixar surfaced in 2005, and were soon joined by similar agreements between the other defendants; the U.S. Department of Justice finalized a settlement in September 2010 that barred Adobe, Apple, Google, Intel, Intuit, and Pixar for participating in such agreements. The suit seeks restitution for lost compensation and treble damages for anti-competitive employment practices. [via Mac Rumors]