Court bars EMC top exec from working for HP

A state court in Massachusetts Monday issued a temporary order barring a former EMC Corp. top storage executive from joining Hewlett-Packard Co. as its executive vice president for enterprise servers, storage and networking citing a noncompetitive agreement.

The court said David Donatelli cannot start his new job until EMC and HP resolve a legal dispute over the terms of a noncompete clause Donatelli signed with EMC.

EMC wouldn't comment on the case other than to say it is aware of the court's decision.

In response to the ruling, an HP spokesperson said, "we are disappointed that the Massachusetts court saw fit to delay Mr. Donatelli's employment with HP. However, the court's order is preliminary, and we are confident that Mr. Donatelli will be permitted to join HP in a leadership role once a full hearing of the issues is held. We are similarly disappointed by the lengths to which EMC has gone to impede Mr. Donatelli's efforts to seek other employment."

Donatelli preempted EMC's suit by filing one of his own on April 27 in a Superior Court in California asking that it negate his employee agreement, which states that he cannot work for a competitor for 12 months after leaving EMC. Unlike Massachusetts, California generally doesn't recognize noncompete clauses.

Hopkinton, Mass.-based EMC filed its lawsuit the next day in Superior Court in Massachusetts seeking the preliminary injunction to keep Donatelli from working for its direct competitor -- HP. The California court is expected to hold its hearing on the case May 15.

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