I don't care that the guy is rich and hoping to get richer. This is evil.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

http://maccentral.macworld.com/news/2004/08/09/seagateex/

This "we own your brain" nonsense often hits people who were not executive directors for 17 years and don't have savings to stay 2 years flipping burgers. Besides, it stifles competition.

Presumption of innocence is truly a thing of the past.

Seagate: Ex-employee can't work for a rival
By Robert McMillan, IDG News Service
August 09, 2004 9:25 am ET

Hard drive maker Seagate Technology LLC is seeking a court injunction to prevent a former employee, Pete Goglia, from going to work for Western Digital Corp., saying Goglia knows too much about Seagate's hard-drive reading and writing technology to work for a competitor.

"This particular employee, who has been here for a very long time, has extensive knowledge of proprietary and confidential information," said Brian Ziel, a Seagate spokesman. "We believe he will inevitably disclose some of that proprietary information that he has gained through working at Seagate."

Goglia worked at Seagate for 17 years. Most recently he was executive director of its Recording Head Operation. He left the company July 30 and is scheduled to start work at Western Digital on Monday, Ziel said.

Seagate filed an injunction Friday with Minnesota State Court for Hennepin County, seeking to keep Goglia from working on Western Digital's read/write technology for two years, Ziel said. "We're not saying he can't work there in that division forever," he said.

[ContraBass Black]

1. You can patent your product, but you can't slave your employees.

[redqueen]

2. Agreed, but it's nothing new

This has been going on for a while now.

[trotsky]

5. Usually this is drawn up in an employee agreement or contract.

If it wasn't, how can Seagate have a case?

[redqueen]

8. See post 6

Made an assumption without reading the article - those agreements are so commonplace I figured he must've signed one.

[trotsky]

13. Heh, I was assuming too.

Seems a fair assumption, doesn't it? Ah well, big corps will win in the end - they always do.

[Bowline]

3. I'd say Seagate doesn't have much of a case.

Unless there was some agreement signed by Mr. Goglia and Seagate specifying Mr. Goglia's post-Seagate employment then the company is pretty much outta luck. Mr. Goglia is free to work for whomever he chooses. You can bet that Western Digital will have a clause written into Mr. Goglia's contract to prevent this from occurring again though.

[tech3149]

9. not too unusual

I've seen a lot of people go through this situation because of non-competitive clauses in contracts. It makes for some pretty harrowing legal fights.

[Bogus W Potus]

4. With no noncompete agreement, Seagate has no case.

If they had this agreement then they could take this man to court for breach of contract, but from scanning this, it appears that there in fact no such agreement, so the man is free to go work wherever the hell they wants to.

[redqueen]

6. Ah I just assumed he'd signed an agreement

they're so ubiquitous these days.

[Bogus W Potus]

10. I'd have to disagree.

I have worked many jobs and I have never had to sign one of these noncompete agreements. I would think that they'd be found mostly in oligopolostic industries, such as the hard drive market. With only four main hard drive manufacturers(Seagate, Maxtor, Western Digital, and IBM, afaik), I understand why Seagate would be concerned about him sharing information with WD. Still, it was their responsibility to sign him to a noncompete agreement, and if they did not do so... tough shit, as they say.

[redqueen]

11. Perhaps it's an industry thing

I've worked in IT consulting for most of my career and they're standard for sales people... heck I even had to sign them as a tech writer and even for this job (I think they have everyone sign them here).

[Dookus]

14. I've signed them in most places I've worked

and they're generally non-enforceable. I don't know of anyone who was prohibited from working for another company because of one. They're used to threaten and intimidate, but have little legal standing. Seagate will lose.

[yvr girl]

15. My last two jobs I've had to sign one - I'm in marketing

One job was high tech. The other was high-end real estate development.

[Divernan]

7. Seagate could have contracted with this employee, but didn't

Their bad. They had 17 years to make a condition of employment a requirement that an employee would not work in the same field for a competitor for "x" period of time. Of course, an employer may have to be a tad more generous in its salaries to such employees. If Seagate has nothing in writing, they just should consider this an expensive management lesson. Boy, if they'd had a crack Harvard MBA like W on their board of directors, this never would have happened! (sarcasm off)

[Bogus W Potus]

12. Wouldn't Georgie be protected under the ADA?

:D

[Xipe Totec]

16. Easy Solution

Those no-compete clauses usually have a 12 month limit. If Seagate is willing to pay for him to stay home for a year, by all means do so.

If not, Seagate can go crash its head on the media platter.

[Deja Q]

17. Like patents, this shit has gone on FAR ENOUGH. Too far.

Information needs to be free.

We need to work to better society.

Not the CEOs' pocketbooks by killing our careers in the process.

I'm nearing the end of my tether with this bullshit. How about you?