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A123 Sues Apple For Poaching Employees
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. "
What about transferring company trade secrets to a competitor, like Apple?
Transferring trade secrets is illegal. But the fear that someone might transfer trade secrets (commit a crime) shouldn't stop them from getting employed, because most people do _not_ become criminals. Apart from that, _if_ Apple wanted trade secrets they could just pay the guys, they wouldn't have to employ them. Apart from that, no company including Apple would knowingly accept such trade secrets, because that would make someone at Apple criminal, and nobody wants to go to jail.
What this is about is that we have here a company which had massive layoffs, but wants to fuck its employees, and wants to grab money from Apple.