This is out of left field, but Federal District Judge Kenneth Karas has ordered that Mark Papermaster “immediately cease his employment with Apple Inc until further order of this court.” The issue arises from the basic non-compete clause in his IBM contract, but Papermaster argues that IBM is more big business whereas Apple is obviously consumer-y.
“Electronic devices large and small are powered by the same type of intelligence, the microprocessor,” IBM argued.
While it’s true, you know those dastardly IBM lawyers are going to pick apart every single word of his contract.
His lawyers also argue that making him sit out an entire year in the electronics industry would be detrimental to his career. They also go on to say that he cannot return to IBM and that the position with Apple, which puts him directly under Jobs and in charge of the engineering group in charge of iPods and iPhones, was a “once-in-a-lifetime ‘dream job.’”
Apple immediately complied with the court order saying that once everything was said and done Papermaster would be back to work in Cupertino.
