There’s an interesting battle brewing between HP and Oracle regarding Mark Hurd, who was recently hired by Oracle after he was recently ousted as CEO by HP’s board following an expense and sexual harassment scandal. Now, HP is suing Hurd regarding Hurd’s new position at Oracle.
Hewlett-Packard Co. is suing Mark Hurd, the chief executive it ousted last month, to stop him from taking a top job at rival Oracle Corp.
The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in a California state court, came a day after Oracle hired Hurd as co-president to help lead the database software maker’s efforts to lure business away from HP. HP claims that Hurd won’t be able to perform his job at Oracle without spilling HP’s trade secrets and violating a confidentiality agreement.
This type of complaint isn’t unusual in the technology world, nor is the confidentiality agreement that Hurd had signed as part of a severance package from HP that could top $40 million.
Technology companies often require such agreements because workers walk out the door with valuable technical information.
But the stakes are higher with Hurd than a rank-and-file employee, and the lawsuit may delay when Hurd could start his new job.
HP may have a valid claim, but you have to wonder why they wouldn’t have an even more explicit non-competition agreement. It sounds like they might have a case surrounding trade secrets and confidentiality, but for $40 million you would think they would have something more concrete.
This should be a lesson to any company who provides VERY lucrative severance packages – get something in return!
