A U.S. District court has ordered an Apple employee recently hired away from IBM to immediately stop work amidst fears that he might disclose IBM trade secrets.
Mark Papermaster "will immediately cease his employment with Apple Inc. until further order of this court," according to a Friday ruling from the U.S. District Court for Southern New York.
Apple announced Tuesday that Papermaster will serve as its new senior vice president of devices hardware engineering, replacing iPod innovator Tony Fadell.
Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Papermaster is a 26-year veteran of IBM and most recently served as
vice president of IBM's blade development unit, which designs IBM's
blade-model servers. In June 2006, Papermaster signed a non-compete
agreement in which he agreed not to work for an IBM competitor for at
least a year if he ever left IBM, according to court documents.
He informed IBM of the Apple job offer last month. On October 20,
IBM offered him a pay raise as well as the option to accept one year's
salary if he promised not to go to a competitor, but Papermaster
submitted his resignation the next day.
On October 22, IBM filed suit.
Papermaster is "in possession of significant and highly confidential
IBM trade secrets and know-how, as well as highly sensitive information
regarding business strategy and long-term opportunities," according to
IBM's complaint.
Apple competes with IBM in the sale of servers, personal computers,
and microprocessors, including Apple's Xservers and Apple's recent
acquisition of California-based semiconductor company P.A. Semi,
according to IBM.
IBM contends that Apple will use Papermaster and its stake in P.A.
Semi "to design microprocessors for incorporation in a variety of
electronic devices, including handheld devices."
"IBM will be irreparably damaged" if Papermaster works for Apple and "inevitably" discloses trade secrets, IBM said.
That is "absurd," according to Papermaster's rebuttal.
"Apple hired Mr. Papermaster not because of any specific knowledge
or experience he gained at IBM, but for his general skill as an
engineer and his strong management skills, knowing full well that he
will need to learn the iPod and iPhone technology 'on the job,'"
according to filings. "Nothing about his new role will implicate any
trade secrets of IBM."
Papermaster's lawyers contend the IBM focuses on large enterprise
applications for businesses while Apple focuses on consumer
electronics. They point to the fact that IBM allowed Papermaster to
continue working at the company for two weeks after he announced his
departure "with unfettered access to all of his files and to IBM's
entire computer network."
Papermaster will "suffer severe hardship if he loses his dream job
and is forced out of the rapidly changing electronics industry for a
year," they contend.
Both sides will reconvene in court on November 18.
Source : http://www.pcmag.com/
