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SALT LAKE CITY — Adobe Systems gave Provo resident and Omniture co-founder Joshua James a warm send-off when he left the company this past summer. But now it is suing him for allegedly violating his resignation agreement.
In a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court, Adobe claims James' recent purchase of Corda Technologies breaches the noncompetition clause of the agreement because the two companies are competitors. James recently was appointed CEO at Corda, the suit says.
The suit further states that James last month tried to hire a "key" Adobe employee, which breaches the proprietary rights clause in the agreement. The employee ultimately declined James' offer.
Adobe bought Orem-based Omniture for $1.8 billion in October 2009. James, Omniture's chief executive officer at the time, became senior vice president and general manager of the Omniture business unit at Adobe.
In the deal, James received $80 million for his stock in Omniture as well as hundreds of thousands of dollars in salary and other compensation. He also received "very substantial one-time severance payment" when he left adobe, according to the suit.
Adobe, based in San Jose, Calif., is the world's largest graphic-design software program maker and is known products such as Flash Player, Acrobat and Photoshop. Omniture offers a variety of Web traffic analysis and other products for companies to improve their marketing over the Internet. The Omniture unit employs about 620 people in Utah and 1,100 worldwide.
In October, Adobe announced plans to build a campus in Lehi just off I-15 that will initially bring as many as 350 jobs to the state.
The lawsuit seeks a court order restraining James from "violating the Adobe agreements" and an unspecified amount in monetary damages.
E-mail:romboy@desnews.com
