July 18, 2008 4:17 PM PDT

Motorola sues iPhone sales executive over trade secrets

Motorola is suing a former executive now employed by Apple's iPhone sales division, charging him with the theft of trade secrets.

Bloomberg found the suit, which was filed by Motorola on Thursday in Illinois state court. Michael Fenger is the defendant, and according to the complaint he is now vice president for global iPhone sales after joining Apple in March.

Prior to joining Apple, Fenger was an executive for Motorola in that amorphous MBA-created part of the world known as EMEA (Europe, Middle East, and Africa). As such, he was in a position to know almost everything about Motorola's business practices and strategies, and Motorola thinks he is now using that information to harm the company and help Apple, according to Bloomberg.

Apple's rise in the mobile world has come at the same time as Motorola's fall, but it's hard to imagine the two are linked. Motorola's problems are largely of its own making: I'm pretty sure Apple didn't play a role in Motorola's decision to flood the market with cheap handsets and its inability to come up with a successor to the Razr.

Motorola wants $1 million back from stock options awards granted to Fenger and it wants to bar him from working at Apple for two years, retroactive to March, Bloomberg said.

Bloomberg said attempts to reach Fenger for comment were unsuccessful.

Recent posts from News - Wireless
U.K. crime fighters grapple with iPhone wipe threat
Cablevision completes first phase of Wi-Fi build
Samsung agrees to sell Symbian stake to Nokia
AT&T fixes wireless-data issue
Verizon and Yahoo extend portal deal
Add a Comment (Log in or register) 9 comments
by Galaxy5 July 18, 2008 11:39 PM PDT
Shorter MOT: "Waaaaaaahhhhhhhh!"
Reply to this comment
by johnnydfred July 19, 2008 6:33 AM PDT
Under Shameless Comments: Motorola's only remaining trade secret? Wait for it...How they've stayed afloat for so long after the Razr. Ba-dum-bum.
Reply to this comment
by michaelo1966 July 19, 2008 8:16 AM PDT
This frivolous lawsuit wisely illustrates why CA wisely won't enforce non-competes. If this guy was so smart -- and he probably was, or Apple wouldn't have hired him -- he probably languished un-listened to at Motorola until he finally left. Now they don't want him working for anybody else but because CA won't uphold non-competes they have to try fabricating a trade secret claim. Hey Motorola: if the "secrets" were that important why didn't you use them to retain and build market share? This is a good illustration of just how pathetic Motorola is.
Reply to this comment
by SeizeCTRL July 19, 2008 10:30 AM PDT
Anyone who thinks this guy won't use what he knows from Motorola over at Apple is just lying to themselves.

You really cannot expect someone to go from one job to another and not use previous knowledge at the new locale.

Now whether or not that information was harmful to Motorola while at the same time beneficial to Apple will remain to be seen.

The one thing I actually like about Motorola is the Motorola Phone Tools software that allows you to connect to your phone and do all sorts of things. Why other phone manufacturers have yet to follow that baffles me. It's pure genius to have a built-in ringtone maker, contact backup, text message back up and so on. The software should be free with every mid to high end phone.
Reply to this comment View all 2 replies
by genus11 July 21, 2008 5:05 AM PDT
Motorola needs to look for acquisition. The best one is Taiwan's HTC. Not sure how easy to do that in Taiwan, but it's doable.
Reply to this comment
by inverse137 July 21, 2008 10:45 AM PDT
Baseless...

They can't deny him a livelihood. If they didn't want him to work for the competition after he left Motorola they should have paid him to stay home and play Quake or something.

And I'm not exaclty certain I would say he left for the "competition." Can you really compare the Razor to the iPhone?
Reply to this comment
by Galaxy5 July 21, 2008 3:33 PM PDT
MOT phone tools might be nice, but I prefer the iTunes approach - easy enough for beginners, and flexible enough for experts.
Reply to this comment
Powered by Jive Software
advertisement

Latest tech news headlines

About News - Wireless

The latest news on tech that helps you communicate, from cell phones and other mobile gear to VoIP and Internet access via broadband and wireless connections.

Add this feed to your online news reader

News - Wireless topics

Featured blogs

advertisement

Inside CNET News

Scroll Left Scroll Right
  • Nanotech: The Circuits Blog

    Timing rumors surface for AMD plant spin-off

    Rumors persist that Advanced Micro Devices is planning to spin off all or part of its manufacturing operations.

  • Gallery

    Photos: Ron Paul's RNC alternative

    As the Republican convention took place just miles away, a crowd rallied for the former presidential candidate and his message of limited government, ensured civil liberties, lower taxes, and peace.

  • Digital Noise: Music and Tech

    Was 1980s music that bad?

    NPR asks listeners which year featured the best music, and the 1980s emerge as a bleak era. Personally, the '80s figure prominently in my collection, but well behind the 1970s.

  • Beyond Binary

    Microsoft begins big ad push

    Microsoft's multi-year push, estimated at $300 million, begins with a spot featuring Bill Gates and Jerry Seinfeld aired during Thursday's NFL game.

  • Video

    YouTube plays party politics

    During the presidential campaigning four years ago, YouTube didn't even exist. Now it's a tool candidates must master to get their message across. CNET's Kara Tsuboi stops by the YouTube upload booths at the Democratic and Republican conventions to find out why Google's video site has such a big presence in Denver and St. Paul, Minn.

  • News - Digital Media

    Michael Moore plans Net-only film premiere

    Filmmaker plans to premiere his latest documentary exclusively on the Internet for free, forgoing the traditional theatrical release.

  • Video

    Political party playlists

    We know the Democrats and Republicans are split over policy issues, but does their musical taste fall down party lines too? And what kind of gadgets did they bring to the conventions to listen to their music? CNET reporter Kara Tsuboi finds out.

  • News - Politics and Law

    What you can--and can't--find about Palin on the Internet

    John McCain's choice of Sarah Palin as a running mate has inspired a wealth of creativity on the Internet.

  • News - Cutting Edge

    Execs predict next Google-like tech

    On eve of company's 10-year anniversary, researchers and business pundits speculate about what technologies might someday have as much impact as Google.

  • Gallery

    Photos: The brains behind Google Chrome

    Here's a look at some of the engineers and executives who took the stage at the company's headquarters as they unveiled the new browser.

  • Webware

    10 things we'd like to see in Chrome

    Google's Chrome is pretty good, but it could be a whole lot better. We've rounded up 10 fairly extensive ways to tweak it to make it an all-around better browser.

  • Green Tech

    Clean-tech group forms to support Obama

    "Clean Tech and Green Business for Obama" aims to raise $1 million for the Democratic presidential nominee while elevating issues of climate change and alternative energy.