Lawsuit Claims Apple Poached A123 Systems Engineers To Bolster Its Battery Division
It looks like Tesla Motors isn’t the only company in the electric car industry to notice the occasional employee slipping over to Apple. A123 Systems, which makes batteries for a variety of applications, including electric cars, has had it up to here with its PhDs jumping ship and recently filed a lawsuit against Apple and some former employees.
A123 Systems claims that its engineers are being poached by Apple and are breaking employment agreements when they go. “Apple is currently developing a large-scale battery division to compete in the very same field as A123,” the lawsuit alleges, reports Reuters.
The lawsuit may shed some light on the debate surrounding Apple’s somewhat-secret interest in the auto industry. For weeks, now, speculation has centered on whether Apple is ramping up its interest in getting technology into vehicles or is actually going to take on the giant task of becoming an electric car maker. Given Apple’s propensity for big, bold choices in product launches, some pundits are pointing to the latter.
The lawsuit from A123 will only bolster their arguments – who needs to build electric batteries when they’re just interested in the tech on the dashboard?
A123 Systems claims that its engineers are being poached by Apple and are breaking employment agreements when they go. “Apple is currently developing a large-scale battery division to compete in the very same field as A123,” the lawsuit alleges, reports Reuters.
The lawsuit may shed some light on the debate surrounding Apple’s somewhat-secret interest in the auto industry. For weeks, now, speculation has centered on whether Apple is ramping up its interest in getting technology into vehicles or is actually going to take on the giant task of becoming an electric car maker. Given Apple’s propensity for big, bold choices in product launches, some pundits are pointing to the latter.
The lawsuit from A123 will only bolster their arguments – who needs to build electric batteries when they’re just interested in the tech on the dashboard?
