Apple agrees to settle lawsuit with A123 Systems
15 May 2015
Apple has agreed on settling a lawsuit which was brought against it by lithium-ion battery manufacturer A123 Systems.
Details of the settlement were not disclosed, but the move brings closure to the complaint from A123 that Apple was poaching employees who had earlier signed non-disclosure agreements with the company.
Under the agreements, employees were barred from working for competitors for one year after leaving A123 - which did not happen in this case.
The poaching of five employees, allegedly took place between the middle of last year and the beginning of this year.
A123 said Apple was grabbing ex-A123 employees that were allegedly responsible for some of the company's more important developments related to lithium-ion batteries and chemical engineering. According to A123 with the employees leaving, those projects had ground to a halt.
"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," read A123's lawsuit, filed in February of this year (See: Battery maker A123 Systems sues Apple for poaching staff).
"They are doing so in an effort to support Apple's apparent plans to establish a battery division that is similar if not identical to A123's, in competition with A123."
The row started in February, when A123 leveled allegations that Apple had enticed five of its best engineers away. It said Tim Cook's firm was doing this as it was ''currently developing a large-scale battery division to compete in the very same field as A123."
Apple asked for more time in March to respond to the suit, noting that the issues were being thrashed out and a resolution was being put together between the two firms.
According to The Register, A123 had made a filing with the Massachusetts District Court stating that ''the parties have reached an agreement, signed a term sheet, and are in the process of drafting a final settlement agreement.''
According to commentators a final settlement seemed to be on the cards, though what it would involve was not clear.
It was speculated earlier that Apple would probably have to pay out a considerable amount of cash for the five staff, or agree on buying A123 stock.
