SAN FRANCISCO - Hewlett-Packard Co. is suing the chief executive it ousted last month, Mark Hurd, to stop him from taking a top job at rival Oracle Corp.
The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in a California state court, came a day after Oracle hired Hurd as co-president to help lead the database-software maker's efforts to steal business from HP. HP claims that Hurd won't be able to perform his job at Oracle without spilling HP's trade secrets and violating a confidentiality agreement.
This type of complaint isn't unusual in the technology world, nor is the confidentiality agreement that Hurd had signed as part of a severance package from HP that could top $40 million.
But the stakes are higher with Hurd than a rank-and-file employee.
The latest lawsuit shows the growing rancor between HP and Oracle. The companies have worked together for 25 years to make sure that their products work well together. But that relationship is straining now that Oracle, like HP, sells the computer servers that power companies' back offices. Oracle got that business through its $7.4 billion purchase of Sun Microsystems last year.
Oracle is mostly known for its database software, which many people use every day but likely don't know it, such as when they're pulling money out of a bank or booking a flight. The software helps companies organize and access their data. Oracle is the world's No. 1 database-software maker, and with the Sun business, Oracle is now among the world's top sellers of servers, as is HP.
by Associated Press Sept. 8, 2010 12:00 AM
HP sues its ex-CEO over Oracle job
