Evidence produced against Apple, Google and some Silicon Valley cohorts about an alleged conspiracy not to recruit each other's employees has sparked new lawsuits claiming other tech and entertainment companies engage in the same anti-competitive conduct.

Pixar's Edwin Catmull acknowledged the use of such agreements when questioned by lawyers for thousands of employees who sued his company, along with Apple, Google and four others, in 2011. An unapologetic Catmull said he was trying to help the industry survive by stopping hiring raids, remarks that triggered a trio of complaints in the last three months against animation studios in California.

Likewise, a Google document revealed in the case from three years ago – the search engine owner's 2007 Restricted Hiring and Do Not Cold Call lists of all the companies it agreed not to recruit from – has resurfaced as key evidence in complaints brought in the last two months against Oracle, Microsoft and IAC/InterActiveCorp. The complaints come as Apple, Google, Intel and Adobe Systems face a trial over the original lawsuit in April with potential damages of $9 billion. – Bloomberg