Netflix Inc. lost its challenge to an order ordering the streaming giant to stop poaching term employees from 20th century fox, after a California appeals court upheld the injunction on Thursday.

Fox sued the streaming service in 2016, alleging that Netflix pressured some Fox executives out of the company, severing fixed-term contracts.

A Los Angeles state trial court granted an injunction preventing Netflix from soliciting Fox employees on fixed-term employment contracts or causing them to violate their agreements.

The California Second District Court of Appeals upheld the injunction, dismissing Netflix’s argument that Fox’s fixed-term contracts were unreasonable and contrary to public order.

The California Supreme Court has observed that there are public policy benefits to fixed-term contracts, Judge Dorothy C. Kim wrote in the unpublished opinion. And other provisions, including a confidentiality provision and a non-solicitation provision, do not violate public order, Kim said.

The Fox agreements provided “stability and predictability” for employees, Kim said. She also rejected Netflix’s argument that Fox pressured employees to extend their contracts, thereby keeping them under contract for longer than the limit legally permitted by California law.

The poached employees in question were “sophisticated corporate executives who negotiated their fixed-term employment contracts with Fox at arm’s length,” Kim wrote. Nothing in the file indicated a restriction on mobility or any other violation of public order, she said.

Justices Carl H. Moor and Brian M. Hoffstadt joined the opinion.

Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe represent Netflix. O’Melveny & Myers represents Fox.

The case is Twentieth Century Fox Film Corp. vs. Netflix, Cal. Ct. App., 2d Dist., N ° B304022, not published 12/21/12.