Thursday, IBM filed a lawsuit against one of the company’s executives Mark Papermaster, the legal action being aimed at preventing the exec from moving to Apple Incorporated.

Papermaster, who left his position as IBM’s blade server business manager only last week, had previously signed a no compete agreement with the company, which entailed he was not to take up a job offer from a competitor within one year from his leaving the „Big Blue.”

IBM’s Blade Development unit, for which the exec has served as vice-president, specializes in selling computers for corporate data centers.

In the past, Mark Papermaster has been at the helm of the company’s technology development department and he was also a key factor in the design of Power microprocessors, which are used as the main Central Processing Unit (CPU) in many of IBM's servers, minicomputers, workstations and supercomputers. Consequently, he has had access to many of the multinational corporation’s intellectual property and trade secrets, which IBM definitely does not want leaking to Apple’s business that sells a server version designed for corporate apps.

Fred McNeese, director of I.B.M.’s corporate media relations group, has stated that Papermaster’s employment with Apple Inc violated the terms of the no compete agreement, adding that IBM would fight tooth and nail to win the lawsuit filed at the United States District Court in Manhattan.

Steve Jobs, Apple’s Chief Executing Officer (CEO) has revealed that the company aimed at using the exec’s expertise to develop hardware for the iPhone and the iPod, refusing to make any comments with regards to the lawsuit.