In Silicon Valley, tech giants have made handshake agreements not to poach each other's employees, referred to as a "no-hire" policy. A new report shows just how far Apple's former CEO was willing to go to enforce it.
Reuters is reporting that former Apple CEO Steve Jobs issued a not-so-thinly veiled threat of patent litigation against Palm to keep the smartphone maker from poaching its employees on the heels of the iPhone's retail debut.
According to a court filing made public on Tuesday, a 2007 document from Jobs attempts to coerce then-Palm CEO Edward Colligan into stemming the flow of Apple employees to its own company, a move that started when former iPod boss Jon Rubenstein was brought into the fold.
The document is part of a civil lawsuit by five tech workers against Apple, Google, Intel and others, "alleging an illegal conspiracy to eliminate competition for each other's employees and drive down wages."
Colligan provided sworn testimony in court to back up the letter from Jobs, which claimed "Palm could face lawsuits alleging infringement of Apple's many patents" if Palm didn't back off on its hiring efforts.
"If you choose the litigation route, we can respond with our own claims based on patent assets, but I don't think litigation is the answer," Colligan replied, telling Jobs that such a plan was "likely illegal" and that Palm would not be "intimidated" by the threat.
Google, Apple, Adobe Systems, Intel, Intuit and Pixar all agreed to settle a U.S. Justice Department probe in 2010 specifically barring the companies from such agreements.
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