Apple’s Jobs patent firestorm threat revealed in no-hire lawsuit

Apple's Steve Jobs allegedly threatened Palm with a patent nightmare if the company's execs didn't agree to a no-hire talent poaching policy, new court filings suggest, with Google, Intel, and others all cited as implicit in the pact. Jobs' proposal, detailed by a legal filing quoting former Palm CEO Edward Colligan, was made back in 2007, with the Apple co-founder concerned about employees switching between the big names in tech at the time, and heavily suggesting that Palm should opt in to a no-hire treaty, or face a potential firestorm of patent lawsuits.