Netflix has officially clapped back at Fox by filing a counter complaint against the studio’s recent lawsuit.
Fox recently hit Netflix with a lawsuit that accused the streaming giant of poaching their employees. Netflix’s countersuit against the studio made claims that Fox’s employee agreements are invalid under California law, and therefore deserve to be broken, according to The Wrap.
Videos by PopCulture.com
The complaint was filed on October 19, and Netflix’s attorneys made the argument that Fox’s employment contracts made it far too difficult for TV and movie production workers to switch jobs. The world’s largest streaming service said that the agreements contradicted California law, “which prizes employee mobility and enshrines it in public policy, statute and case law.”
“Through its widespread use of unlawfully restrictive fixed-term employment agreements, Fox is facilitating and enforcing a system that restrains employee mobility, depresses compensation levels, and creates unlawful barriers to entry by Netflix and others competing in the film and television production business in violation of California Business and Professions Code Section 16600,” the complaint said.
After the complaint was filed, Twentieth Century Fox and Fox 21 sent a letter to The Wrap that said: “Netflix is defiantly flouting the law by soliciting and inducing employees to break their written fixed-term employment agreements. As Netflix expressly acknowledges, California law fully recognizes that fixed-term employment agreements are valid and enforceable. These employment contracts are sought by many employees in the media industry because they guarantee tangible benefits. We look forward to vindicating our rights in Court.”
Fox’s original lawsuit was filed in September and stated that Netflix actively encouraged employees to jump ship even in light of their fixed-term employment agreements. The two Netflix employees named in the lawsuit were Marcos Waltenberg, the former vice president of marketing, partnerships, and promotions as well as Tara Flynn, an executive director and later vice president of creative.
According to the Netflix countersuit, Fox’s fixed-term contracts go against the “broad principle of employee mobility [that] is at the heart of our state’s innovation and economic prosperity that is the envy of many around the world.”
“Fox engages in the widespread use of unlawfully restrictive fixed-term employment agreements, and requires otherwise typically at-will employees to enter into such agreements as a condition of employment and promotion,” its complaint said.
Netflix also addressed the situation with Waltenberg and Flynn. The video streaming company alleged that both employees “”were subject to fixed-term employment agreements with additional option years Fox exercised unilaterally.”
Who do you think is going to win this battle in court between Netflix and Fox?
[H/T The Wrap]
