eBay sued for industry monopoly

The U.S. Department of Justice formally sued ebay last Friday, accusing the latter of being involved in industry monopolies with Intuit's 2006 agreement to “not excavate”.

It is reported that this "do not excavation" agreement was facilitated by former ebay CEO Meg Whitman and software company Intuit founder Scott Cook. At the time, Scott Cook was also a member of the ebay board. He complained to Wittmann that ebay had hijacked a lot of Intuit staff, so that they had the agreement.

The "Not Envy" agreement stipulates that eBay shall not employ Intuit staff. U.S. Justice Department officials said that this allegedly prevented fair competition among job seekers, depriving them (Intuit staff) of the right to seek better job opportunities and alleged industry monopolies.

In fact, the "not excavation" agreement exists in large numbers in Silicon Valley. As early as 2010, a total of six technology companies suffered similar allegations from the U.S. Justice Department: Adobe Systems, Apple, Google, Intel, Intuit and Pixar.

Given the tight winds at the time, eBay resolutely terminated the “not aggressive” agreement with Intuit. Intuit also reached a settlement with the Ministry of Justice. The old matter of the Ministry of Justice was revisited and ebay was brought to court again.

Regarding the allegations of the Ministry of Justice, ebay argued that because the “not to be entangled” agreement was limited to the company and Intuit, it would not have much impact on the industry as a whole, so it was not a monopoly in the industry. A company spokesperson also said that it will fight in the end.