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Apple, A123 To Settle Lawsuit Over Poached Battery Engineers

Posted by samzenpus on from the shake-hands-and-make-up dept.

itwbennett writes: Slashdot readers will remember that back in February, electric car battery maker A123 Systems sued Apple for allegedly "raiding" the Waltham, Massachusetts, company and hiring five employees, including two top-level engineers. The loss of these workers essentially forced A123 to shut down some of its main projects, the suit alleged. Now, according to court documents filed Monday, A123 and Apple "have reached an agreement, signed a term sheet, and are in the process of drafting a final settlement agreement."

3 of 84 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Both ways? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I feel like there is a grey line between paying engineers exorbitant salaries to shut down a competitor by attrition and offering to pay engineers a marginal increase within a standard deviation or two of the mean. I don't claim to know anything about the case specifics (IANAL, either), but I think that it could be argued that once you get passed a standard deviation or so, your actions become what amounts to anti-competitive tactics. Especially when your targets are effectively strategic assets to the company.

  2. smart by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

    A123: We will sue you
    Apple: What we are doing is legal bring it on
    A123: In the lawsuit we will publicly release the projects they are working on

    Profit

  3. Re:Apple... by PopeRatzo · · Score: 4, Interesting

    In the U.S.A. it is a lot cheaper to settle than go to court.

    Not if you have an in-house legal department.

    The settlement could well be because Apple fears what might come out in the discovery phase.

    --
    You are welcome on my lawn.