Apple Sued For Poaching Auto Engineers To Build Battery Division

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Apple is being sued again. How long has it been since someone sued Apple? A week?

Electric-car battery maker A123 Systems has sued Apple Inc for poaching top engineers to build a large-scale battery division, according to a court filing that offered further evidence that the iPhone maker may be developing a car.
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I think the bigger news is that there is evidence that Apple is developing a car.

I can just see it now. Nobody but the people that work at the Apple store will even be able to work on it because it is so locked down.

Oil change... that will be $300. tires... $1200. New wipers, $150.

And once they send out an update to the older cars, they will only go a max of 25mph and the fuel mileage will be horrible as well.

Each car will have a life expectancy of a max of 3 years until it is too old to be used.

:D
 
A123 Systems, the same company that was in such sound financial shape that the Department of Energy gave them a big ass lone before they promptly declared bankruptcy? I can't imagine why they'd be chasing after some of Apple's money.
 
How can they possibly sue? People aren't indentured servants, if someone offers them a better deal - even if one company targets another company's employees, they can go.

I don't see any laws being broken here? Other than the fact that, labor isn't supposed to have any rights anymore...and, I do deeply appreciate the irony here with Apple just settling a lawsuit due to shady deals with Intel, Google, etc, to not poach their people.
 
From my understanding of the subject, non-compete agreements are completely unenforceable in California, and mostly so in Massachusetts, where this was filed.

It will be interesting to see how the lawsuit proceeds.

On a side note, Apple Car? No thanks. I'll walk.
 
Who is going to be a bigger piece of shit on the roads? The people in BMWs or the Apple cars?
 
Megalith said:
Who is going to be a bigger piece of shit on the roads? The people in BMWs or the Apple cars?
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If Apple continues to do Apple Maps as poorly as they have in the past, it will be no-brainer.

Siri: "Turn left now."
Dumbass driver executes turn in the middle of 6 lane highway.

At least with the BMW the idiot driver will get a decent Nav system that may stop a small percentage of their idiocy.
 
BladeVenom said:
F**** A123. If they don't pay their people enough to stay, tough luck.
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You're not understanding the problem.

Imagine there's an employee that currently works for Coke who knows the formula for how to make Coke. That recipe by itself is probably worth hundreds of millions of dollars. Well instead of bothering to pay that price tag - just roll in and double the employee's salary. It's basically like using hiring practices for the purpose of corporate espionage.
 
Zarathustra[H];1041437860 said:
From my understanding of the subject, non-compete agreements are completely unenforceable in California, and mostly so in Massachusetts, where this was filed.
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Except I've lost more than one job opportunity because the hiring company didn't want to get messed up in a lawsuit, even though they admitted the non-compete agreement was completely unenforceable.

Throwing illegal stuff in a contract can still have the intended effect of scaring some people into backing off.
 
Actually they are just investing in battery tech to power their new 52" iPad :)
 
dr/owned said:
You're not understanding the problem.

Imagine there's an employee that currently works for Coke who knows the formula for how to make Coke. That recipe by itself is probably worth hundreds of millions of dollars. Well instead of bothering to pay that price tag - just roll in and double the employee's salary. It's basically like using hiring practices for the purpose of corporate espionage.
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Well, then that becomes criminal. Still doesn't allow you to own a person who has seen the formula.
 
dr/owned said:
You're not understanding the problem.

Imagine there's an employee that currently works for Coke who knows the formula for how to make Coke. That recipe by itself is probably worth hundreds of millions of dollars. Well instead of bothering to pay that price tag - just roll in and double the employee's salary. It's basically like using hiring practices for the purpose of corporate espionage.
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It sounds to me like A123 just doesn't want to compete on wages. A greedy, bankrupt company who can no longer compete trying to enslave their best workers.

Intellectually property is protected by patents, and corporate espionage laws.

You think A123 employees should be slaves for life to A123, and not allowed to ever work again in their field of expertise if a better offer comes along?
 
Apple see's the little electric cars and how much the hipsters love them. They'll be Smart Cars with a big apple logo on the grill for 3x what they should cost and the hipsters will snatch them up like hot cakes.

Actually I think Apple is just going to try and get some key patents on electric vehicle tech so they can extort the rest of the industry.
 
No lie - I lost someone in my group doing analytical chemistry in the Bay Area to go work in Apple's battery development department. She was great. We're a small biotech company, so we weren't going to be able to counter-match Apple's offer. Good for her, sucks for us.
 
It was hard to tell from the article how much this is actually Apple's fault ... a company should be able to attempt to hire anyone as long as it doesn't violate anti-trust or financial security laws ... there should also be limits on how much an employee can use proprietary information with their new employers for some limited amount of time ... I think one of the issues right now is this is strictly a commercial crime for both parties currently ... perhaps we need to revise the laws and make any violation of IP rules a criminal offense and only punish the employee violating the rule (however, we would need to limit both the scope of the rules and the time limit they apply) ... as for poaching, unless it violates anti-trust laws there should be no limits on the number of employees that can leave for another employer
 
cyclone3d said:
I think the bigger news is that there is evidence that Apple is developing a car.

I can just see it now. Nobody but the people that work at the Apple store will even be able to work on it because it is so locked down.

Oil change... that will be $300. tires... $1200. New wipers, $150.

And once they send out an update to the older cars, they will only go a max of 25mph and the fuel mileage will be horrible as well.

Each car will have a life expectancy of a max of 3 years until it is too old to be used.

:D
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Actually, I think none of that stuff will be changeable. When the prospective customer asks why they don't need to change the oil, tires, or wipers, Apple will say, "You don't need to."

In the end, the car will be a brick in 3 years.

:D
 
I didn't know you could poach engineers! :eek: I've heard of them getting pickled, but that's only because they're drunk a lot because of job stress and divorce. It really should be illegal to use engineers in pretty much any recipe though.
 
So Apple got sued for agreeing it to poach from competitors and now they're sued for hiring from competitors. Great country we live in.
 
As much as I hate Apple (and I really hate Apple) When is it illegal to poach employees? I get headhunted all the time by recruiters trying to place me at their clients. I was even nearly poached by another division within mu own company.

Unless there is a specific legally binding agreement between the companies not to poach each other's employees, or if the people being recruited have a no-compete clause in their contract this lawsuit is bull and A123 systems can get bent.
 
cyclone3d said:
I think the bigger news is that there is evidence that Apple is developing a car.

I can just see it now. Nobody but the people that work at the Apple store will even be able to work on it because it is so locked down.

Oil change... that will be $300. tires... $1200. New wipers, $150.

And once they send out an update to the older cars, they will only go a max of 25mph and the fuel mileage will be horrible as well.

Each car will have a life expectancy of a max of 3 years until it is too old to be used.

:D
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You're being too conservative. With the exception of the wipers those prices are actually less than the BMW dealer charges already.
 
Quix said:
You're being too conservative. With the exception of the wipers those prices are actually less than the BMW dealer charges already.
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Anyone who pays for an oil change, or buys tires or wipers at the dealership for any brand of vehicle is a fucking moron.
 
Zarathustra[H];1041439453 said:
Anyone who pays for an oil change, or buys tires or wipers at the dealership for any brand of vehicle is a fucking moron.
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Or has a dozen and one things they'd rather be doing and need to be doing, than wrenching a 4-wheel'd appliance to save a few bucks. 'Tis about priorities.

Sure I could waste an entire weekend afternoon washing/waxing my car by hand and wearing myself out doing it...or I could go to a drive thru and spend more, and have more time and energy to do things I'd rather be doing...because when it comes to cars, just about anything is more pleasurable than DIYing it for most people.
 
Skripka said:
Or has a dozen and one things they'd rather be doing and need to be doing, than wrenching a 4-wheel'd appliance to save a few bucks. 'Tis about priorities.

Sure I could waste an entire weekend afternoon washing/waxing my car by hand and wearing myself out doing it...or I could go to a drive thru and spend more, and have more time and energy to do things I'd rather be doing...because when it comes to cars, just about anything is more pleasurable than DIYing it for most people.
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Didn't say you had to do it yourself. There are plenty of good (even better options) than going to the dealership, if you don't have the time, inclination or ability to do it yourself.
 
Zarathustra[H];1041439485 said:
Didn't say you had to do it yourself. There are plenty of good (even better options) than going to the dealership, if you don't have the time, inclination or ability to do it yourself.
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I presumed you did. Least around here the difference in pricing between going to a dealership and going to a wrench at a shop/service dept. you trust isn't a whole $$$ lot much of the time, unless you end up at a really sleazeball dealership.
 
Zarathustra[H];1041439453 said:
Anyone who pays for an oil change, or buys tires or wipers at the dealership for any brand of vehicle is a fucking moron.
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Depends on the dealership and you should shop around first. I was surprised to find the dealer had a better price on tires for my car than Discount Tire when I replaced them, plus they gave me a loaner car for the day. Their oil changes with coupon (which I make sure and have) are $5-10 more than the express places but include a car wash and their waiting room is a LOT nicer with free beverages, snacks and good wi-fi. It's all designed to get you to think about getting a newer model of course.

Wipers I change myself, too easy not to.

Note you don't need to change the oil in pure electric cars, they don't have any. They have joint grease and maybe transmission fluid but those need to be changed FAR less often (10k+ miles) than gas engine oil.
 
Skripka said:
I presumed you did. Least around here the difference in pricing between going to a dealership and going to a wrench at a shop/service dept. you trust isn't a whole $$$ lot much of the time, unless you end up at a really sleazeball dealership.
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Ahh, around here, the labor ranges from parity to as much as $20 per hour less at an indie shop, and the parts are always much cheaper.

I mean, why pay some ridiculous sum for wipers, when you can pick a pair up for cheap the next time you are in Target, and they are a snap to replace.

Shop for Tires on tirerack, have them drop shipped to the installer of your preference, drive in, install drive out. You just saved hundreds of dollars over the dealership service for comparable tires.
 
TwistedAegis said:
How can they possibly sue? People aren't indentured servants, if someone offers them a better deal - even if one company targets another company's employees, they can go.

I don't see any laws being broken here? Other than the fact that, labor isn't supposed to have any rights anymore...and, I do deeply appreciate the irony here with Apple just settling a lawsuit due to shady deals with Intel, Google, etc, to not poach their people.
Click to expand...
Read the article. The employees signed agreements that they broke when Apple came in. If these people didn't want to get sued they shouldn't have broken the contracts they signed and agreed to.
 
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