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Groupon sues ex-sales heads for defection to Google

E-coupon outfit frets over trade secrets

Soon-to-go-public online voucher site Groupon has thrown sueballs at two former workers of the company, over claims that the ex-sales managers had taken trade secrets to their new employer Google.

In a lawsuit filed with Cook Country, Illinois, Circuit Court, Chancery Division (Chicago), Groupon is seeking an injunction against the two men to prevent them passing on confidential information to Mountain View.

Michael Nolan and Brian Hanna, listed in the civil complaint first spotted by Bloomberg, quit Groupon in September to work on Google's rival Offers product.

“In their new positions with Google Offers and/or Google, Hanna and Nolan will provide the same or similar services as they provided at Groupon,” the firm grumbled.

It argued that the men would need “to employ confidential and proprietary information that they learned while employed at Groupon.”

Google, which failed in its $6m bid to buy Groupon late last year, isn't named in the lawsuit.

The Register asked Google to comment on this story, but it hadn't got back to us at time of writing. ®

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