Pay Up For Competing Web Sites — Ex-Marchex Employees

Pair allegedly copied code and set up competing web sites while working at Marchex

Does Marchex (NASDAQ: MCHX) have a good business plan? A couple of its former employees think so. The pair have agreed to pay $100,000 following allegedly copying Marchex code and creating competing web sites, notes Puget Sound Business Journal. They also agreed to take down the competing web sites. The article states:

Publicly traded Marchex states it first got wind in November that the pair — Eric Thoreson and Casey Manion — had copied key Marchex computer code and were operating an internet directories firm called Leland Ventures LLC that was “a mirror image” of Marchex’s business, as stated by a lawsuit filed July 11 by Marchex.

As stated by Thoreson’s LinkedIn profile, he was VP, Directory Services at Marchex until December 27. Ahead of that he was GM of Marchex’s GoClick. Manion’s LinkedIn profile shows he was a software engineer for Marchex.

Many domain name firms have explicit rules regarding what their employees can and cannot do with regards to domain names, and almost all firms have intellectual property agreements.