United States v. Adobe Systems: "No Cold Call" Solicitation Agreements

Recently, in United States v. Adobe Systems, Inc. et al. (Adobe Systems) the antitrust division of the US Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a lawsuit against some of the largest technology companies in North America, namely, Adobe, Apple, Intel, Google, Intuit and Pixar, in respect of their agreement not to solicit or "cold call" each other's employees. "Cold calling" refers to any solicitation for employment, whether by phone, email, letter or otherwise, targeted at an employee who has not previously applied for the position in question. Employees of the defendant companies were not made aware of the no cold-call agreements.

According to the DOJ, the agreements were anti-competitive as they reduced the ability of the companies to compete for workers and limited their employee's exposure to superior job opportunities, better compensation and improved benefits. It was also alleged that because these agreements were managed by many of the companies' most senior