Apple has begun to sue former Gerard Williams, claiming he broke his employment agreement. Mr. Williams quit to start a firm call Nuvia which seemingly designs silicon and potentially Arm-based chips (via The Register).
Apple Sures Former Employee
Mr. Williams designed chips for devices including the iPhone and iPad. Apple claimed in its lawsuit that Mr. Williams prepared to leave and start his own firm whilst still working there. Furthermore, it claimed that he tried to take former colleagues with him. In its filing, the firm said this was a breach of his contract:
Unfortunately, rather than exploiting the technology he was working on for Apple, Williams secretly considered how he could take an opportunity to exploit that technology from Apple. Williams boasted about starting a new company with technology that he was working on at Apple, that he believed Apple ‘needed’ and that he believed Apple would have no choice but to purchase.
However, Mr. Williams’ raised objections to his former employer seeing his private messages. He said:
Apple has provided no indication that any of its employees have consented to electronic recordation of their text messages. Indeed, the Complaint is entirely devoid of allegations of consent or of facts supportive of an inference of consent.
Nuvia had a low key launch in November. A hearing for the case is scheduled for 9 AM on January 21, 2020. The trial will be heard at the Superior Court of the State of California.