SAN FRANCISCO – Google says it will fight allegations that it stole PayPal's trade secrets to develop a service that allows people to use their smartphones like credit cards.
The statement issued Friday represents Google Inc.'s first response to a lawsuit filed Thursday by online payment leader PayPal. The complaint came the same day Google unveiled its "Wallet" service.
The suit alleges Google hired longtime PayPal executive Osama Bedier four months ago mainly to take advantage of the mobile payments research that PayPal had done during the past decade. Before leaving eBay Inc.'s PayPal, Bedier transferred the latest information about its mobile payments strategy to his computer, the suit alleges.
Google says California law protects the right of workers to "use their knowledge and expertise to seek better employment opportunities."