EMC wins spying case

EMC has been back in court defending its right to prevent former employees running off to rivals, but this time it has won its case.

A preliminary judgement handed down on Tuesday has led to the resignation of Doron Kempel, CEO of storage start-up SANgate, and an ex-EMC employee.

EMC sued SANgate in October, arguing that Kempel had signed an agreement with EMC that he wouldn't work for a competitor for at least a year.

Kempel, previously EMC's media group general manager, argued that SANgate didn't compete with EMC.

However the judge disagreed and issued a preliminary injunction forcing Kempel from his post.

SANgate said it will look for a new CEO, despite the fact Kempel is at liberty to rejoin the firm in nine months.

The ruling comes just a week after it lost a preliminary injunction in a similar case. A judge found the Kenneth Todd Gresham, formerly a VP of global sales alliances, actually had no contract with EMC competitor Eurologic.

Gresham had been working for Eurlogic on a consultancy basis.

EMC said it will continue to fight the case and insisted it had a duty to its shareholders to pursue such actions.