After Apple hired Mark Papermaster to lead its iPod and iPhone hardware engineering teams, his former employer - IBM - took legal action to enforce its interpretation of the no-compete clause in his employment contract. That litigation has been resolved, and Papermaster will start work at Apple on April 24.

The compromise seems to be that Papermaster won't start at Apple until six months have elapsed since he left IBM. The employment contract sought to restrain him from working for an IBM competitor for one year.

The judge hearing the case made a preliminary injunction in IBM's favour, requiring Papermaster to stop working for Apple until a further order was made.

Papermaster asserted that "Until this litigation effort by IBM, aside from the divested IBM personal computer business and a single sale several years ago of Apple's Xserve product to a university, I do not recall a single instance of Apple being described as a competitor if IBM during my entire tenure at IBM."

According to IBM officials, Papermaster remains subject "to all of his contractual and other legal duties to IBM, including the obligation not to use or disclose IBM's confidential information." He will be required to certify in June and October that has met this obligation.

The status of contracts that seek to restrict an employee's right to work elsewhere immediately after resigning varies between US states. IBM's action was brought in New York, which was the venue stipulated in the contract. New York generally upholds such clauses, while other jurisdictions take more restrictive views.

IBM offered Papermaster one year's salary if he would go along with the company's interpretation of the contract.

One problem with such an offer is that - especially in a high-tech industry - a year out of the game is enough to disqualify an individual from serious consideration for a senior vacancy. And it seems unlikely that Apple would have held open the role for a full year.