Taiwan computer maker Acer has sued its former president and chief executive officer Gianfranco Lanci in an Italian court over breach of a non-compete clause in his contract.
Acer said the lawsuit was filed as it believed its former CEO had breached non-compete clauses in the contract he signed with Acer while leaving last year to join Lenovo.
Acer is also seeking unspecified damages from Lanci, who is an Italian and resides there.
Lanci, who was with Acer since 1997, became its chief executive in 2008.
The Taiwanese company said in a statement that they believe Lanci has clearly breached the terms of the non-compete agreement he entered into willingly.
"This is about Acer defending a binding legal agreement with its former employee," Acer said.
"We are taking legal action against him in order to protect Acer’s rights and interests," the company added.
Lanci resigned from the company last April following a fall in the profits of Acer for two consecutive quarters, as consumers shifted towards new tablets such as the Apple iPad and of other companies.
During Lanci’s tenure, Acer occupied second place in the global computer market for some time, before falling to the fourth position last year.
Lanci joined Lenovo as a consultant in September last year and was later named head of its newly-created Europe, Middle East and Africa subsidiary last month.
In a statement, Lenovo said that it was confident that its relationship with Lanci meets all legal requirements, though it did not comment on the case.
