IBM has taken legal action in a bid to prevent one of its most senior Cloud Computing thought leaders from joining Oracle to act as a direct advisor to CEO Larry Ellison.
Ellison may have a reputation of not being enamoured by the terminology of Cloud Computing, but he plans to appoint Joanne Olsen, IBM's general manager for Business Continuity and Resiliency Services, as senior VP for Oracle's On Demand unit. In this role she would report directly to Ellison himself.
But IBM is looking to block the move. The company has filed a non-compete lawsuit against Olsen in New York State Supreme Court arguing that Olsen violated her contract by accepting Oracle's offer. It's asking the court to prohibit her from joining Oracle and is seeking unspecified monetary damages. "Oracle is a significant and major competitor of IBM and Oracle competes with the business units and divisions at IBM in which Ms. Olsen worked in the two years prior to the termination of her employment," IBM states in its complaint, filed on the 16th June.
IBM suggests that Olsen "has gained access to trade secrets and confidential information concerning the company's strategic plans, marketing plans, proprietary customer and distributor lists, and long-term business opportunities."
An IBM spokesman said: “As a long time general manager in our services business and as a member of the company’s leadership team, Joanne Olsen possesses valuable confidential information about IBM and our operations...For years, Ms.
Olsen received significant compensation in exchange for agreeing to non-compete provisions, and IBM expects her to honor that agreement. IBM intends to enforce those obligations to the full extent permitted by law.”
A judge has issued a temporary restraining order that blocks Olsen's move until further hearings, the first of which is scheduled for Tuesday in state Supreme Court in Westchester.
This is not the first legal move made by IBM to prevent senior management from defecting to the competition. Last year it sued mergers & acquisitions chief David Johnson after Johnson decided to join Dell while in 2008, IBM sued Mark Papermaster, who left the company to head up Apple's iPhone development efforts. Both cases resulted in settlements.
Post new Comment