Welcome to the MacNN Forums.

If this is your first visit, be sure to check out the FAQ by clicking the link above. You may have to register before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

You are here: MacNN Forums > News > Tech News > Apple sued after allegedly poaching battery scientists, engineers

Apple sued after allegedly poaching battery scientists, engineers
Thread Tools
NewsPoster
MacNN Staff
Join Date: Jul 2012
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Feb 18, 2015, 11:52 PM
 
According to a new lawsuit filed against Apple, the iPhone maker has been poaching employees from a vehicle-oriented "advanced energy" technology company called A123 Systems over the past eight months for a new, unannounced battery division at the iPhone maker. The latter company says that Apple and its former employees may have violated anti-compete agreements, and have left A123 without qualified leaders for key projects.

The complaint, filed in a Massachusetts district court (first spotted by Law360) says that Apple stole five key employees from the A123's System Venture Technologies Division, which is essentially the company's "moonshot" lab that worked on advanced and "game-changing" technologies. Four of the five were workers in the advanced energy storage division which primarily focused on battery technology; the fifth was the company's Chief Technical Officer, Mujeeb Ijaz, who oversaw the work of the other four.



Apple is accused of conducting "an aggressive campaign to poach employees of A123 and to otherwise raid A123's business," and violation of A123's non-disclosure, non-competition and non-solicitation agreements. These charges are leveled not at Apple generally as much as at Ijaz (who is now an Apple employee), who allegedly breached the agreements by recruiting the other four workers to join Apple.

A123 says the five were so vital to certain areas of the company's technology that it has had to shut down key projects due to an inability to replace the lost personnel. Three of the workers allegedly recruited by Ijaz were PhD project heads, according to the complaint. A123 claims it found emails on work computers between the named engineers and Apple recruiters, charging the iPhone maker with "unfair competition."



In addition to damages and legal fees, A123 is requesting that the court prevent Ijaz and the others from working for Apple or any other similar company for at least a year, and bar Apple from hiring any other employees from A123. Although recent stories have circulated about Apple's alleged interest in car technology and a possible electric vehicle in development, at present Apple would not be considered a direct competitor to A123, since its battery technology development to this point has been focused on power for mobile devices, ranging from notebooks to smartphones and tablets.

In addition to poaching its own employees, A123 says that Apple has been aggressively recruiting employees from other companies that have knowledge of A123's technology, including a collaborating battery firm known as SiNode Systems (which focuses on lithium-ion battery tech) and clients such as LG, Panasonic, Johnson Controls, Samsung, and Toshiba. Apple has also been known to be recruiting employees from electric car maker Tesla, but Tesla has also been actively poaching employees from Apple.


     
elroth
Forum Regular
Join Date: Jul 2006
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Feb 19, 2015, 02:19 AM
 
A123 should have made a deal with Apple not to poach each other's employees. Oh, wait...
     
I-ku-u
Junior Member
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: Cambridge, MA
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Feb 19, 2015, 12:39 PM
 
Oft told story, applied to Apple: damned if you do, damned if you don't.
     
darkelf
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Join Date: Nov 2003
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Feb 19, 2015, 01:06 PM
 
sounds like A123 wasn't paying their employees what they're worth. so that's their problem.
     
TheGreatButcher
Senior User
Join Date: Jun 2000
Location: Sydney, Australia
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Feb 19, 2015, 10:09 PM
 
How is Apple liable? I thought it was already recognised that anti-poaching collusion was a bad thing?
     
   
Thread Tools
 
Forum Links
Forum Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts
BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Top
Privacy Policy
All times are GMT -4. The time now is 01:19 PM.
All contents of these forums © 1995-2017 MacNN. All rights reserved.
Branding + Design: www.gesamtbild.com
vBulletin v.3.8.8 © 2000-2017, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.,