CBS/AP/ November 16, 2012, 5:34 PM

Justice Department sues eBay over non-compete agreement

Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

The Justice Department is suing eBay Inc., accusing the company of eliminating a significant form of competition by agreeing with Intuit Inc. not to hire each other's employees.

The government says the agreement was enforced at the highest levels of both companies and barred either firm from soliciting each other's employees. The agreement allegedly harmed workers by likely depriving them of access to better jobs and salaries.

The two companies compete directly for specialized computer engineers and scientists.

Intuit is a financial software company that offers solutions, like accounting software, credit card processing and mobile payments. Some of the company's services are similar to the eBay owned company PayPal.

The lawsuit seeks to prevent eBay from enforcing the agreement and from making similar agreements with other companies.

According to the complaint filed in federal court in San Jose, Calif., the agreement was in place from 2006 to 2009. Intuit is already subject to a settlement barring it from making such agreements.

© 2012 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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krisd999-2009 says:
Prohibiting workers from being able to get better offers is wrong and so are unions, which are corporations too, for prohibiting other workers from getting a job. How about also stop giving benefits to those who have formed a marriage corporation,gay or straight. Why give benefits to the person you are fng that doesn't even work there? Just because you got a license and filed with the Secretary of State? What about the mistress? Why is it acceptable to discriminate against singles that end up getting lower pay? Religionists set it up to push people to get married, and now wonder why gays want it too!
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Fed-Up_Patriot says:
Between these two companies I think $5 billion in damages is about right.. A good portion of these damages should be distributed to the employee victims of this crime... Also felony criminal charges should be brought and hopefully some prison sentences could be handed out to those executives who participated in the illegal activity of this case..... Without penalties that have some teeth these sorts of things will just keep on happening.
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GOP-R--Con-Men says:
This is why republicans want to cripple or get rid of government. They know government is the only thing powerful enough to put the multi-billion dollar corporations in check.
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GOP-R--Con-Men replies:
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And of course republicans always side with corporations over ordinary Americans. This is what they mean when they say government and regulations are stifling business. What republicans don't tell you is without government employees would be stepped on even more by big business. So voting republican is voting to keep your wages and standard of living low.
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stopkillingourwilderness says:
and this felonious hag kept telling californians that she was qualified to be governor?
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