SAN JOSE, Calif.—Yahoo Inc. scored an early victory in its latest legal battle, securing a temporary restraining order barring Mforma Group Inc.’s new employees from accessing or using Yahoo’s proprietary technology.
Yahoo filed suit against the mobile game-maker earlier this week, claiming Mforma was stealing company secrets as it hired seven former Yahoo employees. The Internet giant is looking to prevent the employees from using Yahoo technology designed to deliver content to wireless phones; the lawsuit also seeks unspecified damages.
Judge William J. Elfving for the Superior Court of California issued the temporary restraining order Wednesday.
“We are very disappointed that Yahoo chose to use litigation against our small company as well as its own former engineers to punish and intimidate,” Mforma Chief Executive Officer Jonathan Sacks responded in a prepared statement. “If they are having problems retaining engineers, they should be looking at the internal sources of employee dissatisfaction rather than trying to cover that up with this legal action.”
Yahoo filed the 38-page complaint against Mforma Monday, claiming that former employee Michael Temkin and six others last year “began plotting to systematically and illicitly acquire and misappropriate Yahoo’s trade secrets, and illegally raid Yahoo’s employee base through a targeted campaign.”
The document includes excerpts from more than two dozen instant-messaging conversations it claims took place between the defendants during their tenure at Yahoo.
