Apple filed a lawsuit in Santa Clara County Superior Court against Gerard Williams III, a former employee that worked at the company for nine years. He left his post as the chief architect of Apple last year. He was in charge of the processors that power Apple tech products like iPhones and iPads.
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Williams started Nuvia Inc, which designs chips for servers. Apple has sued him for breach of his employment contract. Williams has claimed that California law allows workers of a company to plan a new rival business while employed, in his case with Apple.
In a ruling where he refused to dismiss the suit, Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Mark Pierce said that an employee is not permitted “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.” Judge Pierce also rejected Williams’ claim that Apple invaded his privacy. Text messages that Williams sent to coworkers criticizing the company have been admitted as evidence, which the judge refused to exclude as evidence, stating “There are no allegations in the complaint establishing that the text messages were obtained as the result of eavesdropping upon or recording a confidential communication.”
A small victory for Williams happened when Pierce ruled to reject Apple’s claim for punitive damages.
The consequences of the final ruling yet to come could reverberate in future cases of employees who decide to compete against their current employees with new ventures. California law is friendlier than other states’ to employees seeking to open businesses similar to their employers.
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References: Data Center Knowledge, 9To5Mac, Reuters.
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