Apple exec fights for new job, sues IBM

Apple's newest executive, barred last week by a federal judge from working at the California firm, has countersued IBM , his former employer, arguing that the non-competition agreement at the heart of the dispute is unenforceable and too broadly written.

Mark Papermaster, a 26-year veteran of IBM, filed a countersuit Thursday, less than a week after U.S. District Court Judge Kenneth Karas ordered him to "immediately cease his employment with Apple." Karas' temporary injunction on Nov. 7 was in response to a lawsuit IBM filed in late October, when the computer company charged Papermaster with violating a 2006 non-competition deal by accepting a position at Apple to head its iPod and iPhone development.

In the countersuit, Papermaster again argued that Apple and IBM are not really rivals. "Apple and IBM are not significant competitors," he said in the filing. "IBM primarily provides business services, while Apple's primary business is the design, manufacturing and marketing of consumer electronic products."

Papermaster also asserted that the non-competition agreement he signed while at IBM was "unreasonably broad" because it tried to restrict him from working for "any company that engages in competition with his former business unit to any extent, even if Mr. Papermaster will not be working for the part of the company that does."

IBM has charged that Papermaster, who during his career with IBM was involved in the development of the Power line of microprocessors and in charge of the company's blade server development, might be working on similar ventures at Apple. Last April, Apple bought P.A. Semi Inc., a chip design firm that creates high-end, low-power processors, a fact IBM mentioned in its Oct. 22 lawsuit. Papermaster has denied that his duties at Apple will include anything related to P.A. Semi, or to personal computer design.

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