Court prevents former Ubi exec from starting work at Vivendi

Former Ubisoft COO Martin Tremblay will have to wait even longer before joining Vivendi after a Quebec court extended a temporary injunction to prevent him from starting his new job until June.

Tremblay resigned from Ubisoft on March 27, and less than a month later, Vivendi announced that he had been appointed president of Worldwide Studios.

Ubisoft responded by taking the company to court, accusing Tremblay of violating a non-compete clause in his contract of imployment. A court ruled in Ubi's favour, and Tremblay was ordered not to take on any role in the US, Canada or Mexico that would see him working on products which compete with Ubisoft's products.

The latest judgement extends the ban until June 7, with Judge Helene Langlois dismissing Tremblay's claims that he was effectively fired from Ubisoft. "As a consequence, the non-compete clause remains in effect," Judge Langlois said.

In a statement, Ubisoft chairman Yves Guillemot said: "We will continue to actively defend our intellectual property for the well-being of our business and our 1400 Montreal employees.

Tremblay joined Ubisoft as executive vice president in 1999 and became COO a year later. In 2003, he took Electronic Arts to court over non-compete clauses after the rival publisher took on four former Ubisoft employees.