A few days ago, we brought you the lowdown on Project Titan, Apple’s ultra-secret electric car project, and how the Cupertino giant has been swallowing up new hires front and centre. Among these recent hires are 50 top executives who previously worked for the American electric car maker-Tesla Motors. Now, Apple Inc has been sued by A123, a battery supplier which supplied batteries for the Fisker Karma, for hiring some of their top engineers.
According to the lawsuit, Apple Inc began poaching A123 Systems employees in June of 2014. They contend that once hired, they began working on projects similar to the ones they were doing at A123 Systems. The company says this is a violation of their employment agreements and contends.
“Apple is currently developing a large-scale battery division to compete in the very same field as A123,” the lawsuit read. The suit was reported earlier by legal website law360.com. In the suit, A123 also claims that former employee Mujeeb Ijaz is helping Apple to “systematically” hire “A123’s high-tech PhD and engineering employees, thereby effectively shutting down various projects/programs at A123.”
Neither Apple nor A123 have come out and spoken on this lawsuit. The company has also sued five former A123 employees, who could not be reached for comment.
The Project Titan team now numbers more than 200, according to a recent report from 9to5Mac.com.
Additional reporting by Rohan Patil
