‘No-poach’ emails between Apple, Adobe, and Pixar revealed in court documents

When Google, Apple, Adobe, and others made agreements not to hire each other’s employees, the Department of Justice filed and settled an antitrust lawsuit, ending the anti-competitive practice in 2010. But those who were harmed by the collusion are still waiting for resolution in an ongoing class action suit. Now heavily-redacted court documents from the civil case have revealed email evidence of the collusion between Apple, Adobe, and Pixar.

One message from Adobe CEO Bruce Chizen to Steve Jobs was forwarded from the human resources department and said that the two had an agreement “not to solicit any Apple employees, and vice versa.” Lori McAdams of Pixar, which also had a “no-poach” agreement with Lucasfilm, sent an internal email saying that “effective now, we’ll follow a gentleman’s agreement with Apple that is similar to our Lucasfilm agreement.” As previously reported, Palm’s Ed Colligan kept his head high through all this, telling Mr. Jobs in 2007 “your proposal that we agree that neither company will hire the other’s employees, regardless of the individual’s desires, is not only wrong, it is likely illegal.” No good deed goes unpunished.