[2010.09.09]Oracle versus Hewlett-Packard 甲骨文公司VS.惠普公司

jasminewfn

A case of Hurd labour
赫德引起的官司
Two technology titans squabble over HP’s former boss
两大科技巨头因惠普前老板发生争执
Sep 9th 2010 | SAN FRANCISCO

LARRY ELLISON, the chief executive of Oracle, likes a fight. Shortly after Hewlett-Packard (HP) parted company with its then CEO, Mark Hurd, last month amid claims he had filed inaccurate expense reports that appeared to conceal a relationship with a female contractor, Mr Ellison blasted its board for making what he dubbed “the worst personnel decision since the idiots on the Apple board fired Steve Jobs many years ago”. Now Mr Ellison’s bid to profit from HP’s loss has triggered both a lawsuit and a fresh bout of mudslinging.
甲骨文公司的执行总裁劳伦斯•埃里森喜欢挑起事端。上个月惠普称当时的CEO马克•赫德为了掩盖与某女性承包商的奸情申报假账被其解雇，但之后不久埃里森先生抨击惠普董事会，称这个决定乃“自多年前苹果董事会那群蠢蛋解雇斯蒂夫.乔布斯后的最差人事决策”。现在埃里森先生想要从惠普的损失中谋取利益的想法引发了一场官司和新一轮的隐私大公开。

On September 6th Oracle announced it had hired Mr Hurd and given him a seat on the software behemoth’s board. The following day HP launched a lawsuit in California against Mr Hurd, seeking to block his move to Oracle on the ground that he would inevitably disclose HP’s trade secrets to his new employer. As well as giving Mr Ellison another reason to lambast HP’s behaviour, the suit is also a sign of growing tension between technology firms as they venture beyond their traditional markets.
9月6日甲骨文公司宣布聘请赫德先生，并授予其巨兽软件公司董事会一席。第二天惠普在加利福尼亚州向赫德先生提起诉讼，企图阻止他进入甲骨文公司，理由是他不可避免的会向新东家透露惠普的商业机密。这给了埃里森先生又一个理由来抨击惠普的行为，这起诉讼也表明随着科技公司开始在传统市场外寻求投资，它们之间的关系只会愈加紧张。

That Oracle is keen on Mr Hurd (so keen it will pay him a bonus of up to $10m) is hardly surprising. He is a close friend of Mr Ellison’s and his experience with HP ought to be invaluable to a firm that is expanding into the hardware business. Earlier this year Oracle completed the acquisition of Sun Microsystems, which, among other things, makes servers that compete with HP’s. Small wonder, then, that Mr Ellison has hit out against HP’s “vindictive” lawsuit. He says the suit will make it virtually impossible for the two firms, which both co-operate and compete with one another, to work together closely in future.
甲骨文公司对赫德先生感兴趣并不令人惊讶（奖金高达1000万美元可见是十分感兴趣）。他是埃里森先生的密友，而他在惠普的经历对于正在扩张硬件领域的甲骨文公司来说可谓无价之宝。今年早先时候甲骨文公司完成了对太阳微系统公司的并购，其生产的服务器可以惠普公司相抗衡。这也难怪埃里森先生会攻击惠普颇具报复心理的起诉了。他称这起诉讼将导致两家既竞争又合作的公司在未来紧密合作的可能性几乎为零。

HP’s directors may not be scared off pursuing their suit by the blustering of Oracle’s boss. But its lawyers could find it tough to make a case against Mr Hurd stick. California’s courts are notoriously reluctant to restrict workers’ freedom to switch jobs. Roger Kay of Endpoint Technologies Associates, a consulting firm, reckons cases that have the best chance of succeeding involve engineers with specific technical know-how rather than general managers such as Mr Hurd. HP’s lawsuit seeks to overcome this by arguing that in his new role—which Oracle says will include overseeing sales and marketing as well as support operations—Mr Hurd will inevitably draw on confidential data picked up while at HP.
惠普董事会并不会因为甲骨文公司老板的威吓而放弃起诉。但其律师团会发现对赫德先生提起诉讼很难奏效。加里福利亚州的法院不愿意束缚员工跳槽已是人尽皆知。咨询公司端点技术公司的罗杰•凯认为对那些掌握特殊技术知识的工程师提起诉讼才最有可能胜诉，而不是像赫德先生那样的总经理。惠普应对这一点的理由是赫德的新职位——甲骨文公司称将包括监督销售和市场营销，以及支持运营——那么赫德先生将不可避免的要引用惠普公司的机密数据。

Similar suits are likely as tech firms continue to invade one another’s turf. There have already been several big deals this year (including HP’s $2.4 billion purchase of 3PAR, a storage firm) and M&A experts are licking their lips at rumours of more to come. That could mean more displaced senior executives looking for a new home—and a bonanza for employment lawyers.
这样的案件随着科技公司不断侵入对方地盘只会越来越多。今年已经有了几起大交易了（包括惠普24亿美元收购数据存储公司3PAR公司），而并购专家也对此传闻垂涎三尺。那可能意味着更多的高级主管被撤职，去寻求新东家——对雇佣领域的律师来说可谓财源滚滚。

vincent1986

on the software behemoth’s board.
这里software's behemonth还是指的甲骨文公司  这里是软件巨头的意思

jasminewfn

回复 2# vincent1986


    see, thank you!

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