Activision, the COD publisher, is taking Netflix to court, claiming illegal and unethical behavior of the video streaming company for plundering executives. The former Activision CFO, Spencer Neumann, joined Netflix as the top finance executive after leaving the gaming company in 2018.
Activision said in the lawsuit, “Netflix unapologetically recruits talent without regard to its ethical and legal obligations. To shape its workforce to its desires, Netflix not only ruthlessly fires its own employees that it deems ‘adequate,’ but is engaged in a years-long campaign of unlawfully poaching executives from Netflix’s competitors regardless of their contractual obligations.”
Seeing Netflix’s actions, Activision has claimed that Netflix is overlooking California law, also the Labor Code. According to Activision, the video streaming company “knowingly induced Neumann to breach his employment contract with Activision.”
Activision said, “Making matters worse, Netflix engaged in its tortious conduct when Activision–with Neumann’s assistance–was negotiating with Netflix over a commercial partnership to distribute Activision’s linear media content. Netflix then proceeded to induce Neumann to breach his fiduciary obligations to Activision, thereby obtaining yet another an unfair and unethical advantage over Activision, one of Netflix’s competitors.”
The gaming company stated that the behavior with their executive was not an isolated occasion with adding, “Netflix has a demonstrated pattern of caring only about attracting and employing whoever Netflix wants, regardless of whether it violates the law along the way.”
Activision is finding a permanent solution for this Netflix issue with a warning, and the gaming company now wants to be paid compensatory damages, consequential damages, and punitive damages.
