Apple 'Suffocates the Creation of New Technologies,' Claims Former Chip Designer Being Sued for Breach of Contract

[StevieD100]

He could have just walked away from Apple, spent some quality time with his family, recharged his batteries and then started the new company with a clear timeline between the two businesses. Many, many others have done just this over the years while working at Tech Companies all over the place.
But it seems that he didn't.
You have to ask the question, 'did he take legal advice about the timing of his departure from Apple and the creation of the new company?'
IMHO both parties are partieally to blame but he is more in the wrong than Apple. He could have disconnected from Apple himself cleanly but didn't. There has to be a reason why this is the case?

 

[nicho]

You are NOT PROPERTY. You engage with a company to lease your talents, to further their product. Your talents, your IQ, your intelligence and natural ability existed long before you were interviewed. Just because you designed processors for Apple - does NOT mean that you can never use your brain, your IQ, your natural abilities to work on processors, to earn a living; somewhere else. Regardless what your company's hiring agreement says. To put it in a more basic term - you are not a slave, you are not for sale - you are NEVER anyone's property.

On the flip side, you're there to lease your talents for the benefit of the company. You're not there to harvest the benefits of others' brains, IQ, natural abilities for the benefit of yourself on the company dime.

What you say makes sense in small operations. It doesn't necessarily scale to a company the size of Apple. He was lead engineer, not sole engineer, and I doubt that any of his colleagues would be too chuffed about him exploiting their talents and ideas that they undoubtedly put forward.

 

[Romeo_Nightfall]

Funny he says Apple suffocates new technologies when they have, by far, the most advanced mobile processors on the planet.

Edit: Seems he’s talking about Apple suffocating his company/ideas.

huawei has them, apple has no 5g Modem, which huawei and Samsung have
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He could have just walked away from Apple, spent some quality time with his family, recharged his batteries and then started the new company with a clear timeline between the two businesses. Many, many others have done just this over the years while working at Tech Companies all over the place.
But it seems that he didn't.
You have to ask the question, 'did he take legal advice about the timing of his departure from Apple and the creation of the new company?'
IMHO both parties are partieally to blame but he is more in the wrong than Apple. He could have disconnected from Apple himself cleanly but didn't. There has to be a reason why this is the case?

You are wrong judging a human being for entering a business, Apple is not in

 

[LiveM]

So Apples policy is if you previously worked at the company, you should go bake cookies for a living and maybe work on a farm?

I believe him too, because I was following a thread about former Apple employees who were nowhere near this guys level of power, they couldn’t even develop an app on the side, have a YouTube channel or do anything related to tech outside of Apple. Sorry, but Apple needs to be reigned in, Steve Jobs use to work at HP and so many other employees who worked at different tech companies before joining Apple.

The fact that you can’t do it the other way is ridiculous.

Not to mention that directors are usually running several companies simultaneously.

 

[chatin]

Tough love Apple. You made the Morning Show a priority over good chip making.

 

[amartinez1660]

Working for video game companies here in Canada, they all try to scare the employee with a “non-compete” and/or “can’t work in any other related” company for a year clause (i.e if I worked for Eidos, can’t then go to EA or even ILM for a year), when signing the contract AND AGAIN when leaving (to see if that would deter you from leaving).
They are vastly unenforceable and can only work one way which I put to a test, when leaving for an incredible better opportunity and was asked to sign that document a second time I replied:
“So, during that year I can’t work, do I still get the full medical insurance too? Or should I just expect mostly the bi-weekly payments?” Because the ONLY way is if they pay you FOR NOT working with the competition, they retired the clause for my document.
Apple better be paying all these employees for the option of not being able to work with any other competition for that time... but this also would be vastly damaging for the career of that person if it happens long term.

 

[nylonsteel]

oh that tech non compete contract we always have to sign to be hired
interesting for invasion of privacy claim

 

[4jasontv]

Because the ruling happened in Santa Clara which is in California. Maybe I misunderstood your post because it seems you’re trying to reach for something that is irrelevant to the article

No. I must have misunderstood. He can start a chip design firm that can make chips to be sold in California. I assume the non-compete clause applies to the whole US not just one state. If it was in his contract that he signed than maybe it’s not valid in California but it sure should be valid everywhere else. I guess I don’t know if Apple put a non compete in and are trying to prevent him from working in California or if they didn’t and they are trying to prevent him from working elsewhere.

 

[citysnaps]

Years ago I worked at an aerospace company in Sunnyvale. And using company resources working on personal projects, affectionally called gee-jobs, was encouraged.

As long as it was after hours or weekends and not on company time. That was a great system, producing happy technical staff who had access to first class test instrumentation that was beyond the reach of mere individuals (such as network and spectrum analyzers costing $30K+ at the time).

From the company's perspective it was a huge win because employees working on gee-jobs were enhancing their skills and knowledge and solving interesting technical problems. All of which translated to better and highly motivated engineers and technicians for the company.

 

[Mr. Dee]

Not to mention that directors are usually running several companies simultaneously.

Tim Cook I believe invests in a shower head company and provides advice to the startup on his single iPhone that he uses at work and home.

 

[bobob]

Tough love Apple. You made the Morning Show a priority over good chip making.

Wow - - you don't hear many complaints about Apple's success with chip making over the past decade.

 

[realtuner]

huawei has them, apple has no 5g Modem, which huawei and Samsung have

And your point is? I said processors, not modems, so why are you bringing them up?

 

[Baymowe335]

Non-compete agreements are all unenforceable in California, and other states too, as against public policy.

No, the opposite of that. Most states CAN enforce them and even the "uneforceable" states like California can absolutely enforce them in certain situations. This is way more complex and prevalent than you're making it sound. In general, America doesn't protect its workers, particularly in corporate (public) companies.

 

[paul4339]

(Judge) the law doesn't permit an employee "to plan and prepare to create a competitive enterprise prior to termination if the employee does so on their employer's time and with the employer's resources."

the devil’s in details, each case is different.

Williams used company time and resources for his new venture. And used company devices/assets to recruit while being employed. He even used to company devices to work directly against the company (his exit strategy) while employed by the company

.... In one of the messages, Williams is said to have claimed that Apple would have "no choice but to purchase" his new company.

The lawsuit is valid and needs to have its day in court.

 

[vladi]

Microsoft used to have such stupid things in their contracts like when you leave the company everything you create or do in next year or even few becomes the property of Microsoft. I shti you not.

 

[dk001]

I think the issue, at least according to Apple, is that he organised and lured others to his new venture while he was still employed by and paid by Apple.

if Apple is hiring from him it is likely vindictive - to deny assets.

 

[yiswitched]

It is nearly impossible for a company to enforce a non compete. I've never seen any company ever win litigation against any person I've known including myself. Non competes are mostly a way bully employees.

 

[morphineseason]

Seems like pretty standard company policy, to be fair. Almost any company will make it part of their business conduct guidelines that you're not allowed to do work on the side that may conflict with your employer's business. As far as the point about Apple reading his texts, if it were a company owned phone, then they likely have the right to do that if there were reasonable doubt in his behavior. Did they actually read his texts though? Who knows.

 

[Bin Cook]

(Judge) the law doesn't permit an employee "to plan and prepare to create a competitive enterprise prior to termination if the employee does so on their employer's time and with the employer's resources."

the devil’s in details, each case is different.

Williams used company time and resources for his new venture. And used company devices/assets to recruit while being employed. He even used to company devices to work directly against the company (his exit strategy) while employed by the company

.... In one of the messages, Williams is said to have claimed that Apple would have "no choice but to purchase" his new company.

The lawsuit is valid and needs to have its day in court.

youve literally no evidence other than Apple’s word that is what he has done.

hope you’re never on my jury.

 

[atomic.flip]

Apple doesn't do business in the area where he wants to go so this is simply Apple being *******s.
Apple doesn't do data centers so this is a joke. I hope he wins

Exactly. And besides. Non-compete agreements are almost impossible to enforce. Yes they will drag him through court but will ultimately lose unless they can prove he is stealing proprietary information for use in his new endeavors.

 

[AdonisSMU]

Poaching employees you worked with is not only probably a breach of contract but also probably makes you ineligible for employment at a lot of companies.
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Exactly. And besides. Non-compete agreements are almost impossible to enforce. Yes they will drag him through court but will ultimately lose unless they can prove he is stealing proprietary information for use in his new endeavors.

Stealing employees probably is stealing info from Apple. Thats probably a breach of contract.
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Seems like pretty standard company policy, to be fair. Almost any company will make it part of their business conduct guidelines that you're not allowed to do work on the side that may conflict with your employer's business. As far as the point about Apple reading his texts, if it were a company owned phone, then they likely have the right to do that if there were reasonable doubt in his behavior. Did they actually read his texts though? Who knows.

Also is he using company internet? He surely didnt think Apple was unaware. There is no privacy when you use company time and resources.
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(Judge) the law doesn't permit an employee "to plan and prepare to create a competitive enterprise prior to termination if the employee does so on their employer's time and with the employer's resources."

the devil’s in details, each case is different.

Williams used company time and resources for his new venture. And used company devices/assets to recruit while being employed. He even used to company devices to work directly against the company (his exit strategy) while employed by the company

.... In one of the messages, Williams is said to have claimed that Apple would have "no choice but to purchase" his new company.

The lawsuit is valid and needs to have its day in court.

Agreed. So he was stealing.

 

[AdonisSMU]

And your point is? I said processors, not modems, so why are you bringing them up?

Not everybody knows the difference.

 

[MultiMan]

There is an incredible interview with Woz in which he talks a lot about how being able to work on the first Apple while at HP was super critical. (Jobs also had his own job not just working on Apple.) Woz went about this the right way, offering HP the opportunity first (they denied). Ironic, though, that Apple is now so focused on denying employees the freedom to do side projects (alluding to comments above more so the legal case) given the freedom HP gave Woz is the reason Apple exists. Read the article as this summary is very light. Link:

http://www.foundersatwork.com/steve-wozniak.html

I've read several articles about much the same thing regarding AI. Apple wouldn't let their people publish scientific articles or do anything on the side, thus they felt hindered in their research, left Apple and went to Google instead which had a different, freer policy regarding this. One of the reasons Siri is/was way behind.

 

[cosmolv]

Interesting that in past years so many Apple employees left Apple. Seems that internal Apple work ecosystem have hard times... 👀 🤷‍♀️
Maybe workers at Apple didn't have much inspiration from their CEO?

 

[cmaier]

Not to mention that directors are usually running several companies simultaneously.

Not competing companies, they don’t. There have been several high profile departures from Apple’s own board of directors, in fact, when Apple started branching out into new product areas that competed with areas the directors’ were already involved in.
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Interesting that in past years so many Apple employees left Apple. Seems that internal Apple work ecosystem have hard times... 👀 🤷‍♀️
Maybe workers at Apple didn't have much inspiration from their CEO?

This is a ridiculous statement. Apple has many tens of thousands of employees. It is not shocking that they come and go. And, particularly in Silicon Valley where people switch jobs constantly, it’s even less of a surprise. I worked at one place for 7 months until it went out of business, then another place for three months, until I left because I didn’t like it, then 9 years at AMD. Nobody in Silicon Valley thinks it was weird for me to have stayed less than a year at my first two jobs, but I often hear people ask why the heck I stayed at AMD for so long.

In fact, here Apple has a reputation as being a place where people stay a long time.

I mean, look at, for example, Jim Keller. Yep, he left Apple. But before that he worked at DEC, then AMD, then Apple, then AMD again, then Tesla, then Intel (i may have the order wrong somewhere in there). You think harsh working conditions at Apple are the problem?