RIM and Motorola Continue to Duke it Out in Court

BlackBerry (News - Alert) manufacturer Research In Motion (RIM) and Motorola continue to disagree in court regarding the future of employees that Motorola (News - Alert) has already terminated or plans to fire, according to court records.

 

As the maker of the popular BlackBerry smartphone line, RIM filed a complaint last Tuesday in a state circuit court in Chicago saying that Motorola is blocking them from hiring laid-off Motorola workers.

According to court records, the complaint comes from a nondisclosure agreement the companies signed in February. Both RIM and Motorola agreed to share information with each other about a confidential matter and the deal expired in August.

RIM claims that its operations "continue to grow and hire new employees" at a time when Motorola is making "massive layoffs of thousands of its employees in an effort to cut costs within its faltering wireless communication devices businesses."

In September, Schaumburg, Illinois-based Motorola, sued RIM on claims of the company violating the agreement. Motorola asked a judge to ban RIM from using Motorola’s confidential information or from trying to offer jobs to Motorola employees.

RIM argues that Motorola is trying to extend the expired agreement “to prevent the RIM entities from hiring any Motorola employees, including the thousands of employees Motorola has already fired or will fire,” RIM’s complaint said.

The suit asks the court to declare that the provision doesn't bar RIM from hiring Motorola workers, and it also alleges Motorola's behavior represents improper and unfair competitive practices.

Officials for RIM and Motorola were not available for comment.