Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) said Mark Papermaster will be joining the company as SVP of Devices Hardware Engineering in charge of the iPod and iPhone hardware engineering teams on April 24, after litigation between Papermaster and his former employer IBM was resolved. Papermaster was named in November as a replacement for Tony Fadell, SVP of Apple’s iPod division, who was leaving for personal reasons. But after the announcement went out, IBM filed suit against Papermaster under his non-compete contract clause to prevent him from divulging secrets about its microchips. Soon after, a judge ordered him to stop working at the company. Apple did not say what the outcome of the ligation was, but by the time he starts working at Apple, it will have been almost six months since he was originally hired. Release.

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