Acer reportedly suing former CEO Gianfranco Lanci for breaching his noncompete

It looks like former Acer CEO Gianfranco Lanci’s new position with Lenovo has landed him in a spot of legal trouble — Acer is reportedly suing Lanci for breaching his non-compete clause. Lanci left Acer in March of 2011 after several quarters of poor performance and a disagreement with the company’s board of directors regarding the Acer’s direction. Six months later, Lanci was introduced as a consultant to Lenovo focusing on the development of Lenovo’s global consumer business, which Acer apparently views as a breach of Lanci’s one-year non-compete clause. The suit was filed in Lanci’s home country of Italy, and Acer believes it has a “robust case”, saying “we believe Mr. Lanci has clearly breached the terms of the non-compete agreement he entered into willingly.” We’ll see if the Italian courts agree that Lanci stepped over the line when he started guiding Lenovo’s consumer business.