By Rachel Chalmers
Motorola Inc has asked a Texas state district court to prevent Intel Corp from hiring ex-Motorola workers. While not actually accusing Intel of stealing its intellectual property, Motorola says it fears Intel will place its former staff in positions where they could reveal the company’s trade secrets. In September 1998, Intel opened a chip design plant in Austin, Texas, not far from Motorola’s own Somerset plant. Austin is an important center for chip design and competition for engineers is intense.
But Motorola says Intel has stepped over the line by deliberately recruiting individuals who possess sensitive information about Motorola technology. Mark McDermott is a case in point. Considered one of the top designers in the industry, McDermott headed the joint effort between Motorola and IBM Corp to design the PowerPC microprocessor for Apple Computer Inc. Shortly after resigning from Motorola last year, McDermott joined Intel to run its Austin center. The lawsuit alleges that McDermott and 15 other defectors from Motorola are using their intimate knowledge of Motorola’s Somerset center in their work with Intel.
The suit was filed on Thursday March 11, only days after Intel settled out of court with the Federal Trade Commission on antitrust charges. That agreement has not been made public, but Intel is believed to have promised not to retaliate against companies that sue it over intellectual property issues. Motorola spokesman Ken Phillips told the San Jose Mercury News that the FTC agreement was one of the factors Motorola considered in filing its suit. What’s more, the fact that Intel can have its pick of the world’s top engineering talent is said to be an element in the FTC’s ongoing investigation into the microprocessor company’s business practices.
