Papermaster countersues IBM over Apple gig
'Your chip secrets are safe with me'
Apple executive-in-waiting Mark Papermaster is countersuing his former employer IBM for attempting to bar his employment in Cupertino.
IBM recently sued the former chip guru and longtime staffer in New York federal court, accusing him of breaking his non-compete agreement. Big Blue says his intimate knowledge of IBM's Power microprocessor technology makes him a security risk at Apple.
Papermaster was tapped in October to replace outgoing iPod executive Tony Fadell.
IBM's court filings speculate that Apple could toss the Intel processors used in its PCs and servers in favor of new chips using IBM industry secrets disclosed by Papermaster.
Papermaster's counterclaim argues that the companies are not significant competitors and that he'll be doing completely unrelated work at Apple to what he was doing at IBM.
He also claims the non-compete agreement is unreasonably broad in that it would restrict him from "working anywhere in the world based on the global scope of IBM's business" for an entire year.
The claim also points out that Papermaster has lived and worked in Austin, Texas for nearly a decade while the non-competition agreement is governed by the laws of New York.
"Mr. Papermaster has no substantial relationship to New York, in that he has resided and worked in Texas for the past 17 years, and he is going to work for Apple, which is a California corporation," the filing states. "Both states hold that such noncompetition agreements are unenforceable as a matter of public policy."
Papermaster asks the court to declare the agreement unenforceable and for reimbursement for attorneys fees. He's also asking for any further relief the court is willing to swing his way.
The two parties are scheduled to hold a status conference regarding the case next Tuesday. ®
COMMENTS
Bah IBM are such hypocrites
The internal IP training @ IBM show that non-compete clauses are not necessary anyway. If Apple released anything with IBM trade secrets they could sue Apple and Papermaster into oblivion.
Maybe amanfromMars is right and they are just trying to cover the fact that he is really a plant (although that would clearly be against the "Trust and Integrity" part of the corporate vision).
It really shows up the internal propaganda as a stinky pill of manure when you see the company acting like this (not that this comes as any surprise, I've been aware of it for a long while now).
Chat bots
aManFromMars is getting a lot better these days, almost that entire first paragraph made sense!
<- In small print, 'commentards'
Win Win ...... an IBM Special for XXXXPerienced Novices/Old Hands/the Best of Brains*
"Big Blue says his intimate knowledge of IBM's Power microprocessor technology makes him a security risk at Apple." ..... Err, that would be a security asset at Apple, methinks. And it is not microprocessor technology which Big Blue IBM has lost/is losing in the Power game, it is Processor Design Architecture for Control of Power chipped technologies. And Papermaster is just but one of many discovering that Established Cloud Field/Layer/SAP Development Protocol.
Given its SAP Root ... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SAP_AG .... one could also suspect that IBM doth protest too much to conceal effectively their silken trojan.
* Well, that is what they will be competing/jousting against, m'dear.... although whether the Old Guard have the necessary Future Zeroday Skillsets to be a Lead Major Player in a World of Greater Eastern Chip Control Investment and Support is the Present Enigma and Great Game Morph Actuality.
Which you may Realise is nothing more or less than a MMORPG for Reality, Virtually.
Uh oh
Looks IBM is nailed. All he has to do is get it moved to Texas ands its over . IBM should be hit with fines two. They should of never filed in New York since he worked in Texas.
Go papermaster!
Deliver a decisive blow to the non compete mafia..
