Motorola cries foul over exec that bolted for Nokia

Sound familiar? Yeah, Moto's developing a reputation for trying to hold a death grip on its high-value employees, first with RIM and Apple -- and now with Nokia, apparently. The company is trying to score a temporary restraining order that would prevent David Hartsfield, a former VP in product management that helped see the Droid through to completion among other key devices, from joining up as an executive in Nokia's CDMA division following his December 2 departure from Schaumburg. We don't know the details of Hartsfield's non-compete agreement with his ex-employer, but Moto's basically arguing that there's no way for him to work at Nokia right now without benefiting from being familiar with its trade secrets; naturally, the dude's lawyer is saying in response that the company is unfairly preventing him from earning a living. Seriously, David, don't you remember signing that contract in blood?

[mwdavis84 Posted Jan 19th 2010 10:02AM]

Now of course I don't know the specifics of the contract, but it sounds like a pretty clear cut case of a non-compete agreement. And if he oversaw the Droid, then he couldn't have left Motorola too long ago, making that agreement still valid.

Cry about it all you want, Engadget, but a contract is a contract.

[Paullll Posted Jan 19th 2010 11:52AM]

Why Americans have to always be crying? Like all the time, everywhere...