Last updated on March 9, 2021
10.12.2019, 20:28 pm
For a good nine years, Gerard Williams III was co-responsible at Apple as the lead developer for the chips in the iPhone and iPad. As a so-called Chief Architect Williams worked on about the design for the current A13 Bionic. Williams had left Apple in the spring and had come in November with a funding message for his startup Nuvia from the several-month sinking. The developer of data center chips, which was launched at the beginning of 2019, is also the reason that Apple sued Williams, as The Register reports .
Apple accuses Williams of breach of contract
In the complaint filed in August, The Register exists and has just been released, Apple accuses his ex-employee before breach of contract. Williams, Apple recruited during his time at the corporation new comrades for his chip startup among the Apple employees. In addition, he is said to have concealed Apple from his intentions to leave the group and start his own business. Instead, Williams has continued to work on the development of Apple chips.
Apple also accuses its former chief architect that he had just founded the startup to later buy up from Apple. After all, he knows exactly what kind of technology Apple will need in the future, such as the data center chips that Nuvia is currently working on. Williams, according to Apple, is firmly convinced that Apple has no choice but to buy up the startup in order to access its technology. Apple has accordingly filed an injunction and damages claim.
Williams versus Apple: Hearing in January
Meanwhile, Williams has already hit back. The ex-employee explained that the Apple lawsuit has no legal basis. The provisions in Apple’s employment contracts are not enforceable under California law, Williams argues. Apple, according to Williams, based on a kind of non-competition clause, which does not exist in California. That’s why he, Williams, was allowed to plan and recruit for Nuvia during his time at Apple. In addition, the methods by which Apple came to his information were also not legal. The iPhone giant illegally evaluated text messages. How the whole thing ends, remains to be seen. The first hearing is scheduled for January 21st.
