Comments on: Motorola sues iPhone sales executive over trade secrets

Michael Fenger, a former Motorola executive now working at Apple, has been sued by his former employer for allegedly revealing trade secrets to Apple.

[Galaxy5]

Shorter MOT: "Waaaaaaahhhhhhhh!"

[johnnydfred]

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.

[michaelo1966]

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.

[SeizeCTRL]

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.

[inverse137]

SeizeCTRL, nobody else has "yet to follow" is because the Phone Tools software is merely a patch.

Phones running Windows Mobile will sync all data over the cellular network.

You are looking at a consumer grade patch vs. an enterprise level software solution.

[drfrost]

"Anyone who thinks this guy won't use what he knows from Motorola over at Apple is just lying to themselves." - SeizeCTRL

Everyone assumes others to be as virtuous as themselves. I've been in the situation where I could have used confidential knowledge in a new job to help our performance. I didn't do it. Did I use things I'd learned at the previous job? Of course, but nothing confidential, nothing inappropriate. So, IMO, this is not "inevitable."

I find it more likely that Motorola is just using deep pockets to go harass a competitor in every way that can be made to appear "legitimate."

[genus11]

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.

[inverse137]

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?

[Galaxy5]

MOT phone tools might be nice, but I prefer the iTunes approach - easy enough for beginners, and flexible enough for experts.