Motorola Sues Former President Mike Zafirovski Over His New Job at Nortel Networks
CHICAGO (AP) -- Motorola Inc., the world's No. 2 maker of mobile phones, has brought suit against its former president, accusing him of breaching noncompete agreements with the company by accepting the top job at Nortel Networks Corp.
The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in state court in Chicago, alleges that Mike Zafirovski's new job at the Canadian telecommunications-equipment maker will mean the use or disclosure of Motorola's trade secrets.
Zafirovski, who left Schaumburg, Ill.-based Motorola in January after being passed over for the top job there, is to assume the Nortel post on Nov. 15. Nortel, which is based in Brampton, Ontario, was not named as a defendant in the lawsuit.
In a statement, Nortel said it and Zafirovski are reviewing the lawsuit and "intend to pursue discussions with Motorola with a view to resolving the dispute."
The lawsuit seeks to stop Zafirovski, 51, from working for Nortel for two years, keep him from hiring Motorola employees and prevent him from disclosing confidential information about Motorola.
"We take these matters seriously and Motorola will do what's necessary to protect the company," company spokeswoman Jennifer Weyrauch said.
The lawsuit alleges Zafirovski accepted the Nortel post "despite being paid millions of dollars in cash, stock and stock options in exchange for Zafirovski's simple agreement not to take a position with a competitor during the two years following his departure" from Motorola. Zafirovski was paid "well over $30 million" in cash, stock and options in exchange for his noncompete agreements, the lawsuit says.
"On no less than eight separate occasions" while a Motorola employee, Zafirovski agreed in writing to various noncompete agreements, according to the lawsuit.
Motorola and Nortel both design, implement and deploy communications networks, according to the lawsuit, which claims Zafirovski "has no other communications industry knowledge and experience except for the trade secrets which he was provided by Motorola."
Motorola called Zafirovski's actions "a serious threat" to its business.
Zafirovski, who became president and chief operating officer of Motorola in 2002, helped engineer a turnaround at the cell-phone giant but left a little more than a year after former Sun Microsystems Inc. executive Ed Zander was picked for the top job.
Before working at Motorola, Zafirovski spent 20 years in executive positions at General Electric Co., including as president-CEO of five of its subsidiaries. |
