Last November it was announced that Papermaster was joining Apple as senior vice president of Devices Hardware Engineering, reporting to CEO Steve Jobs. Papermaster was tapped to lead Apple’s iPod and iPhone hardware engineering teams. He was previously a vice president at IBM.

IBM filed a lawsuit to stop Papermaster from working at Apple. IBM said his hiring is an attempt to expand Apple's presence in the markets for servers and chips for handheld devices. Big Blue is suing Papermaster to prevent him from joining Apple and divulging trade secrets related to IBM's Power chips and server products, according to a complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

IBM and Papermaster have now agreed on a resolution of the lawsuit under which Papermaster may not begin employment with Apple until April 24, 2009, six months after leaving IBM, and will remain subject thereafter to all of his contractual and other legal duties to IBM, including the obligation not to use or disclose IBM’s confidential information.

Following commencement of his employment with Apple, Papermaster will be required to certify, in July 2009 and again in October 2009, that he has complied with his legal obligations not to use or disclose IBM’s confidential or proprietary information. The preliminary injunction will be replaced by a court order under which the Court will have continuing jurisdiction over this matter, including compliance enforcement powers, until Oct. 24, 2009, one year after Mr. Papermaster’s departure from IBM.