IBM apparently has asked to depose several "senior executives of nonparty Apple Inc.," according to the company's memo to Karas. Those executives, however, were not named. Earlier filings had spelled out Apple's recruiting of Papermaster, and said that he interviewed in October with, among others, CEO Steve Jobs and the senior vice president, Tony Fadell, who currently heads the company's iPod business. Fadell is stepping down from his post, but will remain as an advisor to Jobs.
Stephen Madsen, an attorney with Cravath, Swain & Moore LLC of New York, the firm representing IBM in the case, was not immediately available to answer questions about who at Apple had been asked to provide information.
For his part, Papermaster has asked that IBM turn over documents his lawyers believe pertain to the case.
In its memo, IBM noted the requests in a footnote. "Our conviction that the trial preparation will be substantial has been heightened by discovery demands just served by Mr. Papermaster, which seek, among many other things, 'all documents since 2006 concerning IBM's business plans' [and] 'all documents concerning IBM's server business segment,'" the footnote stated. IBM said that it had been served those requests, and others, on November 20.
Papermaster has countersued IBM, arguing that the non-competition agreement is unenforceable and too broadly written, while IBM has had to post a US$3 million bond to cover any costs or damages that Papermaster might suffer if Karas' injunction is, in fact, overturned.
