11/11/2008, 11:05pm, EST
Tuesday, November 11th
IBM fears its technology could end up in iPods, Macs
The legal battle between IBM and its former executive Mark Papermaster has heated up as the two parties prepare for action next week, according to InternetNews. Because an injunction has prevented Papermaster from starting his new job at Apple, the two sides will negotiate a bond that will allow monetary compensation to be sought if the injunction is found to be unjust. If the court determines that Papermaster should not have been blocked from his career move, IBM could end up paying for the blunder.
The dispute surrounds Papermaster's acceptance of a position at Apple, replacing Tony Fadell as the Senior VP of Devices Hardware Engineering. A non-compete agreement clause in his IBM employment contract, however, prohibited him from switching to a competitor for a full year after leaving the company.
IBM quickly took its ex-VP of microprocessor development to court after he declined a counteroffer from its HR department. The offer would have paid him a year's salary if he would at least "respect his contractual obligation to refrain from working for an IBM competitor for one year."
Papermaster defends his action with claims that the companies are not in competition with each other, as Apple produces consumer goods while IBM focuses on enterprise products. He referred to the Apple offer as a "once in a lifetime" opportunity, and said that "nothing about this new role will implicate any trade secrets of IBM."
IBM takes a different stance on the matter, and pointed out that even Papermaster acknowledged that both companies manufacture servers. "Because IBM has shown that the Noncompetition Agreement is reasonable in duration and geographical scope, the admitted existence of competition -- and Mr. Papermaster's contractual admission that a violation of his agreement would cause IBM irreparable injury should be the end of the matter," the injunction documents claimed.
IBM goes further than the server example, claiming that its embedded microprocessor technology could easily be used in other consumer electronics as well. The company could be afraid that Papermaster will use the trade-secret chip technology for the next generation of iPods, iPhones, Mac computers, or Apple servers.
Papermaster has until November 11th to object to IBM's bond proposal, otherwise the parties will meet again next week. The conference could determine further actions or trial dates.
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Extortion
My guess that this is more about extortion than anything else. IBM is not really a computer maker any more, but given that lawyers are involved, this is going to be a long, drawn out process.
Of course he wants...
...to take his knowledge of IBM's great portable-audio products to Apple, they have so much ground to make up after all.
iPod Server?!
Maybe IBM is afraid that Apple will introduce a very portable server: the iPod Server, which can connect to other iPod servers and act as a server cluster...
IBM's Concern is Legit
Look, quiet frankly, I love Apple. But I'm not a "everything-Apple-does-is-right" fanboy. I believe Apple would/will make full use of Papermaker's knowledge. Had IBM not raised this issue, I'm sure that's exactly what Papermaker would be doing right now. I don't think Apple is wrong in pursuing this, though perhaps a little misleading, IBM would certainly be foolish not to protect their secrets. Does anyone really doubt that if a top Apple iPod executive wanted to take a top position and Nokia Apple would not try to intervene? This would not be a concern if Apple only made software; I think IBM would have to react if Papermaker took a job an almost any electronics manufacturer.
riiiight
"IBM fears its technology could end up in iPods, Macs"
So IBM is looking out for Apple :D
where's the iBMPhone?
So when is IBM's version of the iPod or iPhone coming out?