“The Justice Department has launched an investigation into whether some of the nation’s largest technology companies violated antitrust laws by negotiating the recruiting and hiring of one another’s employees, according to two sources with knowledge of the review,” Cecilia Kang reports for The Washington Post.

“The review, which is said to be in its preliminary stages, is focused on the search engine giant Google; its competitor Yahoo; Apple, maker of the popular iPhone; and the biotech firm Genentech, among others, according to the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation is ongoing,” Kang reports.

“Justice Department officials declined to comment about an investigation, as did officials from Google and Yahoo. Apple and Genentech could not be reached for comment,” Kang reports.

“The sources said the review includes other tech companies and is ‘industry-wide.’ By agreeing not to hire away top talent, the companies could be stifling competition and trying to maintain their market power unfairly, antitrust experts said,” Kang reports. ‘This could be collusive restraint on trade, which could have a serious impact on competition,’ said Albert Foer, president of the American Antitrust Institute.”

More in the full article here.

[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader "Judge Bork" for the heads up.]