The Morning After: Apple drops lawsuit against former exec who accused the company of spying
After more than three years of litigation, Apple has quietly dropped its lawsuit against Gerard Williams III, a former chip executive the company accused of poaching employees. After over a decade at the company, in 2019, Williams left Apple to co-found Nuvia, a chip design firm later acquired by Qualcomm in 2021. When the tech giant first sued Williams, it accused him of “secretly” starting Nuvia and recruiting talent for his startup while he was still an Apple employee. Williams disputed Apple’s claims and accused the company of spying on his text messages. The case was dismissed, mired in a lot of legalese and multiple court documents.
Apple requested to dismiss the suit against Williams earlier this week. The request does not state the company’s reason for dropping the case, but in March, Apple wanted the recusal of Judge Sunil Kulkarni, because its legal team added lawyers from a company that Judge Kulkarni had previously worked at. So, conflicts of interest, initiated by Apple recruiting more legal firepower. Apple and Qualcomm, Williams’ current employer, did not immediately respond to Engadget’s request for comment.
– Mat Smith
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