The Channel Wire

November 14, 2008

Mark Papermaster, the former IBM technical whiz who's being sued by a jilted Big Blue after taking a position at Apple last month, is attempting to wrestle free of the clutches of IBM's legal team by filing a countersuit.

IBM claims that it competes against Apple "in the design, manufacture and sale of electronic devices, including servers, personal computers and microprocessors," and that Papermaster violated a non-compete agreement by accepting a position as head of product development for Apple's iPod and iPhone division.

But in a Thursday U.S. District Court filing, Papermaster's lawyers argued that the scope of IBM's non-compete agreement is overly broad and that Apple and IBM aren't major competitors. In addition, Papermaster's most recent position at IBM -- vice president of blade server development -- would offer Apple little in the way of useful trade secrets, the lawyers said in the filing.

The filing also highlights the fact that IBM has more of a business focus while Apple focuses more on consumers. "Mr. Papermaster's role at Apple will not require him to use any confidential information he may have acquired in his role at IBM," the lawyers said in the filing.

Last Friday, a New York judge handed down a preliminary injunction ordering Papermaster to stop working with Apple, and Papermaster's recent filing essentially asks the court to deem IBM's non-compete clause unenforceable.

Papermaster, a 25-year IBM veteran known as an expert in chip design and one of the driving development forces behind the Power PC processor, left IBM Oct. 21 to take over product development for the iPod and iPhone.

IBM didn't handle the news well, and the next day filed suit to stop Papermaster from beginning his new job, arguing that he violated a contractual non-compete clause that prevented him from working for a competitor for one year after leaving the company.

According to the recent filing, IBM even tried to play the guilt card in order to prevent Papermaster from joining Apple. After Papermaster informed IBM of his decision to accept the position at Apple, IBM implored Papermaster "to consider the effect of his decision on his family."

While it's unknown what that effect would be, one thing's for sure: The Apple cororporate freebies (iPhones, iPods, MacBooks, etc.) would have been much, much more fun for the wife and kids than a boring old bunch of blade servers.