One of Apple’s current lawsuits is with its former chief chip architect, Gerard Williams III. In a recent hearing for the case, Williams claimed that Apple recruited employees from his new startup Nuvia and that the lawsuit is being used to “suffocate the creation of new technologies and solutions by a new business…”
Williams left Apple early last year after spending nine years in the role of chief A-series chip architect. Last fall we learned that his new startup, Nuvia was focused on making chips for large data centers with the goal to offer higher efficiency and security than existing products in the space from companies like Intel and AMD.
Then in December, news broke about Apple filing a lawsuit against Williams for planning his new business while still at Apple and also poaching Apple employees for Nuvia. In pre-trial hearings, Apple won two motions, while Williams won one.
Today, Bloomberg reports that Williams has claimed that Apple poached from his startup and that the lawsuit is an attempt to “suffocate the creation of new technologies and solutions by a new business…”
Gerard Williams III, who co-founded Nuvia Inc. after working as lead chip architect for Apple until February 2019, alleges that Apple’s lawsuit is designed to “suffocate the creation of new technologies and solutions by a new business, and to diminish the freedom of entrepreneurs to seek out more fulfilling work,” according to a court filing.
Apple “aims to improperly deter its employees from making even preliminary and legally protected preparations to form a new business — whether competitive or otherwise,” Williams said in the filing in state court in San Jose, California.
It may be some time before a verdict in the case but whatever the result, one attorney has said that the ruling will be “groundbreaking.”
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