a123 systems

Just as rumors ramped up earlier this year that Apple has been developing its own electric vehicle under Project Titan, battery maker A123 Systems filed a lawsuit against Apple for poaching five of its engineers. The two companies appear to now be finalizing a settlement over the dispute, The Boston Globe reports, helping Apple avoid the case going to court.

The lawsuit cited unfair competition and non-compete contract violations after evidence revealed the employees were recruited to leave the battery firm. Apple previously requested an extension to respond to the lawsuit, however, suggesting a settlement was on the table…
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Apple has poached five key engineers from A123 Systems to work in a new battery division at the Cupertino technology company, with some hires possibly going as far back as June, a new report claims. The battery maker claims that these hires violated agreements it had in place to prevent them from joining competing companies.

The employees the report refers to are Don Dafoe, Michael Erickson, Indrajeet Thorat, Mujeeb Ijaz, and Depeng Wang. Three of these workers—Erickson, Thorat, and Wang—were PhD project heads working on new battery technology. Ijaz headed up the System Venture Technologies Division, which oversaw work by all four of the others.

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