Apple has dropped its three-year lawsuit against Gerard Williams III, a former chip executive accused of poaching employees. Williams spent almost ten years at Apple, leading the development of some of its most important chips, including the A7, the first 64-bit processor for mobile devices.
In 2019, Williams left Apple to co-found Nuvia, a chip design firm later acquired by Qualcomm in 2021. When Apple sued Williams, it claimed that he had started Nuvia secretly and recruited talent for his startup while still working for the company. Williams denied the accusations and accused Apple of spying on his text messages.
Recently, Apple requested the dismissal of the lawsuit against Williams. Although the reason for the dismissal was not stated, court documents suggest the two parties may have reached a settlement. Apple cannot file the same claim against Williams again, as the dismissal was “with prejudice.” Williams and his legal team came out strongly against the idea of Judge Sunil Kulkarni removing himself from the case, arguing that Apple’s position on the subject “should not matter” and that the move had the potential to be “prejudicial” against the former exec. Apple then filed to dismiss the case on April 26th.
