BlackBerry lawsuit stops employee joining Apple

A court has ruled that BlackBerry can prevent its senior VP for software from joining Apple because Sebastien Marineau-Mes was unofficially promoted by the Canadian manufacturer last year

BlackBerry took its senior VP of software to court to stop him leaving the company for Apple, court documents show.

Sebastien Marineau-Mes wanted to leave the struggling manufacturer to take up the role of VP of core OS at Apple, but BlackBerry claimed he had signed a contract on promotion in October preventing him for leaving for six months.

Marineau-Mes argued the contract was unenforceable as he signed it at a time when the company had a freeze on promotions while it waited to be bought.

The court, however, ruled BlackBerry can hold Marineau-Mes to his contract until June 23.