Lawsuit claims Apple poached engineers from battery manufacturer A123 Systems

February 19, 2015

Apple is currently facing yet another lawsuit involving accusations of employee poaching. A recent filing from A123 Systems, a battery manufacturer, claims that Apple poached several engineers from the company for its new battery division, violating agreements set forth in their employment contracts in the process.

The report comes from Law360:

A123 filed suit Feb. 6 in Massachusetts Superior Court, alleging Apple hired away five employees who developed new battery technology and products and tested existing products, despite the fact that the employees were under contracts with noncompete, nonsolicit, and nondisclosure obligations.

Since June, Apple has been mounting "an aggressive campaign to poach employees of A123 and to otherwise raid A123's business," the complaint said.

Further, A123 says that, after the employees left, it found emails on company computers from Apple's hiring personnel to the engineers in question.

It's not entirely clear what the employees are working on in their new home at Apple. However, recent rumblings about an all-electric Apple Car, as well as rumored battery life on the upcoming Apple Watch could provide some clues.

Source: Law360; Via: 9to5Mac