The American multinational telecommunications co. Motorola Inc. (MOT), according to Bloomberg, has sued a former executive ; Michael Fenger, currently Apple’s (AAPL) vice president for global iPhone sales – accusing him of disclosing trade secrets to aid in the marketing of Apple’s iPhone.
According to a complaint filed on Thursday in state court in Chicago, Motorola pretends that its former employee:
“was privy to the pricing, margins, customer initiatives, allocation of resources, product development, multiyear product, business and talent planning and strategies being used by Motorola”.
Fenger’s employment by Apple, further states the complaint – violates his written promise not to work for a competitor for at least two years after leaving Motorola. The company seeks a court order barring Fenger from working for Apple.
Motorola additionally, will seek to recoup more than $1 million for Fenger’s alleged violation of company stock-option agreements.
Cupertino, California-based Apple, has declined so far to comment.
There is little doubt that a lot of co’s, especially in the tech sector, engage in different activities in their assault on IT. However, while no one particularly likes the idea of Fenger violating his signed statement not to work for another competitor within a defined time-frame, one must wonder if this has anything to do with the fact of Motorola losing market share to Apple, slipping from second place to third in global handset sales.
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