工程師指控矽谷高層勾結----中壢英文補習班－金學堂英語的部落格

【聯合報／By DAVID STREITFELD／王麗娟譯）】

Engineers Allege Collusion in Silicon Valley

SAN FRANCISCO — Silicon Valley executives know all too well that a competitor’s unchecked innovation can quickly topple the mightiest tech titan.

Just how far Silicon Valley will go to remove such risks is at the heart of a class-action lawsuit that accuses industry executives of agreeing between 2005 and 2009 not to poach one another’s employees. Headed to trial in San Jose, California, this spring, the case involves 64,000 programmers and seeks billions of dollars in damages. Its mastermind, court papers say, was the executive who was the most successful, most innovative and most concerned about competition of all — Steve Jobs.

The court documents portray the engineers as “victims of a conspiracy” who were cheated by their bosses, said Joseph R. Saveri, a lawyer for the plaintiffs. “These are the engineers building the hardware and software that are the lifeblood of the technology industry,” Mr. Saveri said. “But they were prevented from being able to freely negotiate what their skills are worth.”

The actions described in the suit were first uncovered in an investigation by the United States Justice Department, which concluded with an antitrust complaint against a half-dozen companies. The companies agreed to drop the no-poaching practice. But the settlement did not preclude the programmers from pursuing their own case against the companies.

Mr. Jobs was particularly worried about Google, which was hiring rapidly and expanding into areas where Apple had an interest. In 2005, for instance, Google’s co-founder, Sergey Brin, tried to hire from Apple’s browser team. “If you hire a single one of these people that means war,” Mr. Jobs warned in an email, according to court papers.

Mr. Brin backed off, and Google and Mr. Jobs soon came to an informal agreement not to solicit each other’s employees. Apple made similar deals with other companies. So did Google.

By 2007, when a Google recruiter slipped up and contacted an Apple engineer, Mr. Jobs immediately complained. Google fired the recruiter within an hour.

Google declined to comment for this article. Apple did not respond to requests for comment.

The Justice Department inquiry concluded in 2010 with an antitrust complaint against Apple, Google, Intel, Intuit, Adobe and Pixar. There were no financial sanctions.

Lucasfilm, which sold Pixar, and Pixar have settled the class-action suit, as has Intuit. They agreed to pay $20 million.

One Silicon Valley executive appears to have resisted Mr. Jobs’s threats . In 2007, Palm Inc., a maker of hand-held devices, hired Jonathan J. Rubinstein, a former Apple executive who played a key role in developing the iPod.

Mr. Jobs proposed a no-poaching deal to Edward T. Colligan, Palm’s chief executive. But Mr. Colligan said such a deal would be unfair and “likely illegal.” Mr. Jobs then threatened to unleash Apple’s patent lawyers on Palm.

In an interview, Mr. Colligan said, “A lot of times you’re confronted with things that may be advantageous, but you have to make the critical decision that morally, it is not right.”

中譯

矽谷的高層主管都十分了解，對競爭對手的創新不設防，再強大的高科技巨人也可能在短時間內被扳倒。

為剔除這項風險，矽谷可能做到何種地步，是一項集體訴訟的核心，該案指控業界高管於2005年到2009年協議互不挖角。今春在加州聖荷西進入訴訟程序的案件，是由6萬4000名程式設計師提出，尋求數十億美元賠償。挨告的主謀，根據訴狀，是最賺錢、最創新、最關切競爭的高管賈伯斯。

原告的律師之一薩維里指出，訴狀說明工程師是遭到老闆欺騙，「一項陰謀的受害者」。薩維里說：「這些工程師建構硬體和軟體，也就是科技業的命脈。但是他們自由談判自己技能價值的權利，卻受到了阻礙。」

訴狀陳述的這些老闆的行動，最早是被美國司法部揭穿，司法部在針對六家公司所提的反托辣斯訴訟中，作成這樣的結論。這些公司同意放棄互不挖角的作法。不過，這項和解並未排除程式設計師可自行對公司提出訴訟的權利。

賈伯斯對谷歌最有戒心，谷歌正快速招兵買馬，朝蘋果也感興趣的領域擴張。舉例說，2005年谷歌共同創辦人布林試圖從蘋果的瀏覽器團隊挖角。根據法院文件，賈伯斯在電子郵件中警告：「這些人你只要挖走一個，就是宣戰。」

布林於是打退堂鼓，不久，谷歌和賈伯斯達成互不挖角的非正式協議。蘋果並另與其他公司達成類似協議。谷歌亦然。

2007年，谷歌一個招聘人粗心大意，連繫了蘋果的一名工程師，賈伯斯立刻提出抱怨。谷歌一小時內炒了這名招聘人魷魚。

谷歌拒絕對這篇文章表示意見。蘋果也未回應記者置評的請求。

司法部2010年結束調查，裁定蘋果、谷歌、英特爾、Intuit、奧多比、皮克斯違反反托辣斯法。但未宣布金融制裁。

已將皮克斯出售的盧卡斯電影公司以及皮克斯，都已和這項集體訴訟達成和解。Intuit也是。他們同意支付2000萬美元。

矽谷有一位高管力抗賈伯斯的威脅。2007年，手持裝置廠商Palm公司，挖角前蘋果高管魯賓斯坦，他在蘋果研發iPod上扮演要角。