Groupon Sues Former Employees Now Working for ‘Google Offers’

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On the face of it, things look grim for Groupon right now. Its IPO offers a value around a third of what was originally expected, the Daily Deals business seems to be shrinking, and it’s facing multiple class action lawsuits from former employees. Luckily, it’s fighting back against bad fortune… by suing two former employees who are now working for the competition.

The two former employees, Brian Hanna and Michael Nolan, used to work as sales managers for Groupon before moving over to Google Offers. Groupon’s lawsuit, filed yesterday in Chicago, does not name Google as a defendant, but does ask that both Hanna and Nolan are prevented from sharing any information they learned at Groupon with their new employer.

Initial reports suggest that Groupon is not seeking damages with this lawsuit, leading some to speculate that this is purely a way of protecting any proprietary information about the company that Nolan or Hanna may have, which the lawsuit claims they “will employ” in their new positions.

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Graeme McMillan is a reporter at TIME. Find him on Twitter at @Graemem or on Facebook at Facebook/Graeme.McMillan. You can also continue the discussion on TIME’s Facebook page and on Twitter at @TIME.