IBM Played the Sappy Family Guilt Card In Bid to Keep Papermaster

2:30AM November 17, 2008 | Jack Loftus

The legal snafu regarding former IBM employee Mark Papermaster’s departure for Apple took a hard right toward Lifetime TV town this week after some new information shed light on just how far IBM went to keep him on the payroll. Imploring Papermaster to remain in the Big Blue camp, an unnamed exec asked the new iPod head at Apple to “consider the effect of his decision on his family.” When Papermaster declined the offer, thereby choosing free iPods over discount blade servers, IBM sued him for violation of a non-compete contract. Per a judge’s emergency order, Papermaster is currently not working for Apple until this is cleared up. If nothing else comes of this, at the very least Papermaster has some interesting additions for his updated resume. [CRN]

Comments

boc

November 17, 2008 at 12:34 PM

I think people need to take a chill pill. Non-competes are bad for most of us. But put it in perspective for a second here.

This guy is going from a top executive position at IBM to a top executive position at Apple.

That’s right, the guy is loaded and can afford to be “unemployed” for a year.

Also at the top executive level non-competes are actually a good thing (for business). At that level he’s going to know a lot of sensitive business information that could be unfairly used at the next company.

Finally, at that level of employment I’m sure he negotiated his contract to the last letter. So he would have been fully aware of the non-compete and would have more than likely made sure that he was paid handsomely to compensated for the non-compete.

This is a non story, and Papermaster is probably enjoying himself on the golf course while you’re reading this.

ibmexec

November 20, 2008 at 3:18 PM

Your kidding right. He was a VP at IBM not one of the top tier execs. IBM forces its employees to sign very difficult to read and understand non-competes in conjunction with getting bonuses and small amounts of restricted stock.

This should be watched carefully and IBM should not be able to continue with their employement tatics.