Talent moving from company to company is not new in SV. And to be more specific, if you've been working you're whole career in maps technology and then move to maps division in another company, that shouldn't be shocking. Also, I have a hard time believing this one guy was the entire lynch pin on wallet and was the difference between Google doing it or not. A payment wallet is not a new concept.
This is a clear sign of paypal's weakness. Rather than compete, sue. It's like zuckerberg said: If you guys were the inventors of Facebook, you'd have invented Facebook.
I'm not a lawyer, just an engineer so maybe i'm missing something but doesn't seem as dramatic as some of the comments here imply
It's neither the career move nor the concept of the e-wallet that is in dispute... refer to the Mark Papermaster hiring fiasco that involved Apple and IBM a few years ago. The complaint is about a high-level executive acting against the company's interests while being employed in that capacity by stealing company information. I'm not a lawyer but I seem to recall quite a few similar cases e.g. someone from Coca-Cola who jumped shipped to Pepsico (or was it the other way around) and got charged with violating trade secrets laws.
I have a hard time believing this one guy was the entire lynch pin on wallet and was the difference between Google doing it or not
Perhaps not, but as the filing alleges, he was the person in charge of negotiating a deal with Google for Paypal to provide these Wallet-like services at the same exact time he was interviewing at Google for a job. That sounds like the definition of conflict of interest to me.
As an aside, I wonder what the interview process is like for someone Google is hoping to poach like this? Wonder if he had to interview with Andy Rubin a few days after/before appearing on the other side of the negotiating table from him?
This is a clear sign of paypal's weakness. Rather than compete, sue. It's like zuckerberg said: If you guys were the inventors of Facebook, you'd have invented Facebook.
I'm not a lawyer, just an engineer so maybe i'm missing something but doesn't seem as dramatic as some of the comments here imply