Legally challenged phone chipmaker Qualcomm hired Apple's general counsel Donald Rosenberg, which was quickly replaced by the latter company with Oracle's top lawyer, Daniel Cooperman. Donald Rosenberg has been only 10 months with Apple and got the company through the thick of a stock option scandal. His predecessor, Nancy Heinen, was apparently made a scapegoat with more or less grounds over that scandal.

Donald J. Rosenberg is to start Oct. 8 on his new Qualcomm job, where he is to serve as executive vice president and general counsel of the San Diego digital wireless communications company. Previously, he was for more than 30 years at IBM. Qualcomm' former general counsel, Lou Lupin, has resigned in mid-August after the company had lost a string of important legal battles. Carol Lam has held the position until Rosenberg takes over. Carol Lam joined the mobile chip company in February this year and was previously a U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of California.

A ban was issued June 7 by the International Trade Commission on phones with chips from Qualcomm, after litigation with chipmaker Broadcom. On Aug. 10, a U.S. District Court Judge awarded Qualcomm's rival Broadcom $39.3 million in damages, double the jury's initial $19.6 million payment, because he said the company has intentionally infringed Broadcom patents, not by mistake as was initially ruled.

"We started a nationwide search in midsummer and Don was always at the top of that list," said Bill Davidson, senior vice president of global marketing and investor relations at Qualcomm. "He matches up very well with us. He spent 30 years at IBM and has a lot of experience in antitrust and patents, a very broad background."

Daniel Cooperman, who is to start as Apple's senior vice president, general counsel and secretary on Nov. 1, has had showed outstanding performance during Oracle's lengthy battle to take over PeopleSoft, a deal that cleared its final legal hurdle in 2005.  Oracle announced that has replaced Cooperman with Dorian Daley, its current vice president for legal matters.

"We thank Don for his contributions to Apple during the past 10 months and wish him well in his future endeavors," Jobs said in a statement. Daniel Cooperman "will be an excellent addition to our team and will fit right into Apple's fast-paced culture," Jobs claims.