Former Ubisoft COO Tastes Own Medicine?

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Earlier this year, Electronic Arts Montreal general manager Alain Tascain sharply criticized Ubisoft Montreal's business practice of binding employees to one-year non-compete clauses, meaning after employees leave Ubisoft Montreal they are barred from working for Ubisoft's industry competitors for one year. Mr. Tascain's letter was addressed to Ubi Montreal's then-Chief Operating Officer, Martin Tremblay, who was instrumental in the expansion of Ubi Montreal and who ended up being Ubisoft's chief public spokesman in the company's defense of its hiring clause. The conflict was only the latest in a recurring sticking point between the two studios, which also flared up quite publically in 2003.

In an ironic turn of events, Mr. Tremblay is now being hindered by the exact clause he once sought to defend. Late last month, Tremblay quit Ubisoft and joined Vivendi Universal Games to serve as the publisher's president of worldwide studios presiding over all development. Now, he has been sued by his former employer, and a judge from the Quebec Superior Court has issued an injunction in favor of Ubisoft. The Honorable Robert Mongeon, J.S.C. ordered that Tremblay refrain from working for any of Ubisoft's competitors--essentially locking him out of the video game industry--until May 9, when Ubisoft will attempt to extend the ban, presumably for the rest of its intended year-long duration.

The Honorable justice Robert Mongeon made the following observations in his judgment: "He (Martin Tremblay) with full knowledge of the situation chose to be employed by Vivendi, knowing full well that he was heading for a serious confrontation, if only for the fact that he himself had commanded the litigation involving Ubisoft and Electronic Arts in 2003. To provoke such a confrontation and now complain of the resulting inconvenience demonstrates, at the very least, a brazen attitude."

Tremblay likely has a tough case ahead of him. Regardless of anyone's particular feelings on Ubisoft's practices, it can't look good to violate the very provision he was instrumental in enforcing, and the judge seems to agree.

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