14 DAY TRIAL // U.S. District Court Judge Kenneth Karas seems to have had his final say in the Papermaster case, ruling that Apple's new VP could indeed cause "irreparable harm" to IBM, just like the Big Blue alleged when suing its ex staffer for running off to Apple.
IBM sued Papermaster in October, claiming that a non-competition agreement he had signed in 2006 prevented him from working for a competitor. Noting that a position with Apple's hardware engineering team was a once in a lifetime opportunity, Papermaster's answer was that IBM and Apple were not competitors, while IBM was forced to pay $3 million to go on with the case. Judge Karas eventually dismissed these allegations, court documents now show.
A Macworld report reveals that Karas found the injunction justified. "Because Mr. Papermaster has been inculcated with some of IBM's most sensitive and closely-guarded technical and strategic secrets, it is no great leap for the Court to find that Plaintiff has met its burden of showing a likelihood of irreparable harm," Karas said.
While dismissing Papermaster's contention that Apple and IBM were not competitors, Karas also expressed concern that Papermaster's background in processor design at IBM would play a part in his new job, even though he would not be designing chips for Apple.
"It is likely that Mr. Papermaster inevitably will draw upon his experience and expertise in microprocessors and the 'Power' architecture, which he gained from his many years at IBM, and which Apple found so impressive, to make sure that the iPod and iPhone are fitted with the best possible microprocessor technology and at a lower cost," Karas said.
"Indeed, any claim that he would merely use general engineering skills is belied by Apple's focus on Mr. Papermaster's 'spot on' knowledge of semiconductors and microprocessor design," he added.
"The harm to IBM, however, is more likely to derive from inadvertent disclosure of the IBM trade secrets that have defined Mr. Papermaster's long career," said Karas. The Judge thus concluded that, "while the Court ascribes no ill-will to Mr. Papermaster, the Court finds that the likely inevitability of even inadvertent disclosures is sufficient to establish a real risk of irreparable [harm] to IBM."
Apple hasn't expressed its stance, following these events. The company's press room is still featuring the latest-issued official report, titled "Mark Papermaster Joins Apple as Senior Vice President of Devices Hardware Engineering."