Court Paves Way for Saatchi to Form Agency : Advertising: He can compete against the firm he founded, but three colleagues can’t--for now.

Advertising executive Maurice Saatchi is free to compete with his old company, Saatchi & Saatchi Group, for the time being, but three of his colleagues cannot immediately help his new venture.

A judge on Monday refused Saatchi & Saatchi’s request to issue injunctions that would have hindered Maurice Saatchi’s ability to form a new ad agency.

But the judge pointed out that three former Saatchi & Saatchi executives, Jeremy Sinclair, Bill Muirhead and David Kershaw, were bound by employment contracts that prohibit them from stealing away any Saatchi & Saatchi clients or competing with the company.

Justice Jonathan Parker said Saatchi & Saatchi was trying to obtain court orders “by the back door” to stop Maurice Saatchi from going into competition.

“In my judgment, the back door is firmly closed,” the judge said.

Although there was no clear winner in the ruling, both sides tried to proclaim at least partial victory as they prepare for a full trial set to begin in May.

Maurice Saatchi said he will proceed with plans to form a company tentatively called the New Saatchi Agency.

“I hope they will now acknowledge that legal action is not the way to stop competition,” Saatchi said. “You can’t put the toothpaste back into the tube. Clients have the right to choose.”

Saatchi & Saatchi said that although it has failed to stop Maurice Saatchi from setting up shop, it has proven the other executives, whom it calls “the three amigos,” cannot go into business against it for now.

“This is a skirmish in the war, not the war itself,” Saatchi & Saatchi spokesman Richard Walters said. “We’re looking for the full hearing in May.”

Saatchi & Saatchi, the world’s largest advertising company before the recession, was thrown into a crisis after major shareholders in the United States insisted late last year that Maurice Saatchi be ousted as chairman.