Robbie Cowling, MD, Jobserve comments on the Silicon injunction - 01/2001

Silicon.com obtained a temporary injunction, which was granted to ensure Jobserve continued to take the advertising from members of ATSCo. Jobserve has always had a policy of not taking advertising from an agency that is also a competitor. So, for example, we don't want to advertise Elan Jobs because Elan, are owned by JobSite.

ATSCo member agencies were launching their own website, which they knew was infringing this policy, so they went to court to ensure their continued use of Jobserve. The temporary injunction was granted on information that contained more spin than a dog chasing its own tail. For example, they claimed that Jobserve advertises 70,000 plus jobs on its site and that our nearest competitor has just 15,000 jobs. They have also claimed that 70% of all IT jobs in the UK are filled as a result of Jobserve. I have always stressed that Jobserve is good but even I don't propose that we are that good.

Because of a legal thing called a balance of convenience the courts have decided that the injunction will not harm Jobserve, as all it does is to keep the status quo. However, if Jobserve were to continue with its policy then the ATSCo members may choose to boycott their own website and
potentially strangle it at birth.

Jobserve believes that the ATSCo members are themselves acting anti-competitively and is seeking advice that is likely to result in further legal action. The members of ATSCo are obviously so concerned, that the Internet offers a level playing field for smaller agencies, that they wish to control it. Only ATSCo members can advertise on their site and agencies can only become ATSCo members if other ATSCo members accept them into their gang.

Obviously it is not an ideal state, when you find yourself in a dispute with some of your bigger customers. However, I believe our policy to be correct, and I also believe, that agencies controlling a job board is not in the interests of our Industry as a whole.

Ann Swain, Chief Executive, Atsco, said Silicon want to carry on advertising as they have throughout history. Large recruitment companies should not be able to dictate where other companies advertise.