Apple’s latest recruit, who was stopped from working on future development of the iPod and iPhone by a US judge, has hit back at his former employer IBM claiming that the non-competition agreement at the heart of the dispute is unenforceable and too broadly drafted.
Lawyers acting for Mark Papermaster, a 26-year IBM veteran, have filed a countersuit that claims that claims that “Apple and IBM are not significant competitors”.
In his affidavit he said “IBM primarily provides business services, while Apple’s primary business is the design, manufacturing and marketing of consumer electronic products.”
The counter claim which was lodged less than a week after a U.S. District Court Judge ordered Papermaster to “immediately cease his employment with Apple.
Papermaster also asserted that the non-competition agreement he signed while at IBM was “unreasonably broad” because it tried to restrict him from working for “any company that engages in competition with his former business unit to any extent, even if Mr. Papermaster will not be working for the part of the company that does.”
According to Computerworld in the USA IBM has charged that Papermaster, who during his career with IBM was involved in the development of the Power line of microprocessors and in charge of the company’s blade server development, might be working on similar ventures at Apple. Last April, Apple bought P.A. Semi Inc, a chip design firm that creates high-end, low-power processors, a fact IBM mentioned in its Oct. 22 lawsuit. Papermaster has denied that his duties at Apple will include anything related to P.A. Semi, or to personal computer design.
Papermaster’s lawyers argued, because of where he lives and where Apple is located. The agreement, they noted, is governed by the laws of the state of New York, where IBM is headquartered while Papermaster lives in Texas and Apple is based in California. “Both states hold that such non-competition agreements are unenforceable as a matter of public policy,” the countersuit said.
Papermaster also said that when he took the Apple job, he signed a confidentiality agreement there that forbid him from bringing to the company any “confidential, or proprietary, or secret information” of IBM. “Mr. Papermaster has honored and intends to continue to honor his agreement not to disclose any confidential IBM information,” the suit stated.
When Apple hired Papermaster to run its iPod and iPhone engineering group, IBM claimed that he had information of “highly confidential IBM trade secrets” that would “irreparably harm” the company if he’s allowed to work for Apple.
