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A123 Sues Apple For Poaching Employees

Posted by samzenpus on from the don't-take-the-law-into-your-own-hands-you-take-them-to-court dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Electric-car battery maker A123 Systems is suing Apple in federal court for allegedly poaching five employees to help it develop a competing battery business. The suit accuses the workers, including A123's former chief technology officer, of breaking noncompete and nonsolicit agreements. "It appears that Apple, with the assistance of defendant Ijaz, is systematically hiring away A123’s high-tech PhD and engineering employees, thereby effectively shutting down various projects/programs at A123," according to the lawsuit. The news adds some credibility to rumors that Apple is getting into the automotive market. "

7 of 196 comments (clear)

  1. First people complain about not poaching by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Now they complain when they do poach.

    Come on.

    1. Re:First people complain about not poaching by binarylarry · · Score: 4, Insightful

      And the lawyers win.

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  2. Wait ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Insightful

    ... this is one company suing another company for being a more attractive employer?
    Seriously?

    1. Re:Wait ... by TWX · · Score: 3, Insightful

      If those five people did not take documentation from their former employer to their new employer, then they probably are clear of transferring trade secrets. After all, I'm not barred from using the skills that I learned at one employer at another employer, that's simply how the game works.

      As for going for a team, this is not the first time that a team, or a significant portion of a team, has moved as a group from one company to another, and it certainly won't be the last. If A123 wants to retain their employees then they need to sweeten the pot for their employees. That could be more pay, or better working conditions, or more vacation time, or whatever those employees want. If another company makes a better offer then those employees have every right to pursue that offer.

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  3. Credibility to rumors? by king+neckbeard · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Yes, because there's no way that a company that makes portable electronics would have an interest in someone knowledgeable about batteries unless they were making cars...

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    1. Re:Credibility to rumors? by EmperorOfCanada · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Apple's expertise in cellphones was considered to be a joke when they were rumoured to be working on a phone. People pointed at them and laughed saying, "Motorola and Nokia will eat them for a snack."

      There were huge scholarly style articles breaking down the myriad of reasons apple couldn't succeed. I even read an interview with a blackberry employee who said that when they saw the iPhone they were all relieved that it was going to be a flop as they knew with certainty that it could only have a 1 hour battery life as a computer plus a screen plus a transmitter would require a battery that was much larger than the one that must be inside. Then the guy said that blackberry crapped its collective pants when they got their first iPhone and found that it had a pretty good battery life and that inside the thing was mostly battery as Apple had managed to uber shrink the computer/transmitter part and that the screen was really thin.

      I am not saying that Apple will succeed but that to suggest that they will fail because they haven't been doing this for 50 years would be foolish.

      That said; one of my theories is that they don't really intend on building a production car but to build awesome prototypes that will teach them what an all electric self driving car will be like and how apple could sell things that will make it better. Plus they will no doubt build up a portfolio of car patents that will pay for the whole effort.

      But on the other hand, self driving cars combined with electric cars combined with new materials such as aluminum and carbon fibre are a transition point for the automotive industry. This might allow a competitor such as apple to completely end run the industry because all those years making gas driven drive trains and the complexities in making a great steering system all vanish in this transition. This might then leave the car companies with a legacy of old school engineers who have "seniority" a legacy of pension costs, a legacy of factories not suitable for modern materials, a general lack of computer knowledge, and a legacy of sleazy dealerships. All things that would hold the old school people back.

  4. Good. by BenFenner · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Weren't we up in arms about the artificial wage stagnation due to silicon valley employers agreeing not to "poach" (AKA participate in capitalism) each other's employees?
    If A123 wants to keep their employees, they might have to *gasp* offer them better conditions/compensation? The horror.