Apple Escapes Trade Secrets Claims Over Startup Employee Hires

Apple Inc. didn’t steal trade secrets when it hired away employees from an app-recommendation startup, a California state appeals court ruled.

Hooked Media Group developed an app that gives personalized suggestions for other apps based on users’ usage patterns. Apple discussed buying Hooked “solely so Hooked’s employees (and in particular certain engineers) would become Apple employees—an ‘acqui-hire,’ in Silicon Valley jargon,” according to the opinion from the California Court of Appeals for the Sixth Appellate District.

Apple ended up hiring two Hooked engineers and its Chief Technology Officer without making a deal with the company. Hooked sued Apple for fraud ...