Apple Agrees to Settle Lawsuit Filed By A123 Systems Over Poaching of Its Battery Scientists

Apple has agreed to settle a lawsuit filed by A123 Systems accusing the company of poaching its employees to build a 'large-scale battery division', reports BBC.

The agreement in principle was disclosed in the papers filed by the battery-maker, which is based in Waltham, Massachusetts. The two parties are said to be working out the final details.

A123 says that since June, Apple has been mounting "an aggressive campaign to poach employees of A123 and to otherwise raid A123's business."


"In the wake of defendants Erickson, Wang and Thorat's departures, the projects that each was individually and principally responsible for have been effectively shut down for lack of PhD employees to replace them."

In March, Apple tried to have the lawsuit thrown out, claiming that it was based "solely on labels and conclusions" that weave "an elaborate but ultimately incorrect and unsupportable theory". They were unsuccessful. Discussions between A123 and Apple have been ongoing since then.

The terms of the deal were not disclosed in court filings.

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