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The Quebec Court of Appeal has overturned a Ubisoft injunction against THQ which sought to block the latter from soliciting staff from the French publisher.
Ubisoft was granted the injunction in March this year thatprohibited THQ from approaching staff at Ubisoft, as employees at the publisher had a ‘non compete clause’ in their contracts.
However the court has now overturned that decision, stating the American publisher was not bound by any non-competition restrictions and was therefore free to solicit any Ubisoft employee, provided THQ’s efforts did not amount to unfair competition".
The dispute kicked off after THQ announced developer Patrice Dsilets would be joining THQ Montreal to create a new games IP. He previously worked as creative director on Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed franchise.
"The Court of Appeal’s decision is a tremendous victory for THQ Montreal and all of the creative talent working in the video game industry in Montreal,” said THQ legal exec Ed Kaufman.
