Apple’s new executive in charge of the iPod and the iPhone, Mark Papermaster, must stop work immediately because he may have violated an agreement with his former employer, IBM. He left the company last month in order to join Apple, but IBM said Mark agreed not to work for a competitor within a year of leaving his job and this clause can be found in Papermaster’s contract. U.S. District Judge Kenneth Karas in White Plains, New York, said that Papermaster must immediately cease his employment with Apple until further order. The order was issued after the markets closed.

Apple announced on Tuesday that Papermaster would lead the engineering teams making Apple’s iPods and iPhones and that he would report directly to CEO Steve Jobs. Papermaster has worked for IBM for 25 years and Judge Karas said that Papermaster can submit any objections by Tuesday and set another hearing for November the 18th. In order to defend him and try to cancel the decision, Papermaster’s lawyers told the court that forcing him to sit out of the electronics industry would be incredibly damaging to his career. In addition, they mentioned returning to IBM was not a solution. Another argument Papermaster brought to court was the one that there are significant differences between the two companies, and that’s because IBM makes big machines for big business and Apple makes little devices for consumers, but IBM said that all the electric devices are powered by the same type of intelligence, the microprocessor.

Papermaster was hired by Apple in order to replace Tony Fadell, a long time executive in charge of Apple’s iPod group, who retired from the job for personal reasons. Even if it seemed like a small loss, given the fact that Papermaster was already on his way, Apple will have several problems with Fadell’s replacement.