Current round of legal wrangling between Ubisoft and EA decided in Ubi's favor. Quebec court upholds restraining order preventing former staff from working at EA.
According to the Quebecois newspaper Le Devoir, Ubisoft has won the current round in a legal battle that pits the publisher of the popular Splinter Cell game franchise against U.S.-based powerhouse Electronic Arts. The Quebec Court of Appeals upheld Ubisoft's temporary restraining order which sought to prevent four former Ubisoft employees hired by Electronic Arts Montreal from working while a larger case is litigated. That larger case accuses the four former Splinter Cell developers with violating non-compete clauses allegedly signed when they first took up employment at Ubi.
The non-compete clause prevents employees who leave the company from working for any other computer game concern. Specifically, the non-compete clause prevents former Ubisoft employees from working in the North American game industry for a period of one year after leaving the company. Ubisoft Divertissements, the company's Canadian subsidiary, had sought an injunction to prevent Splinter Cell developers Steve Dupont, Hugo Dallaire, Marc Bouchard, and François Champagne-Pelland from actually working at Electronic Arts' Montreal office.
News source: GameSpot
