The legal snafu regarding former IBM employee Mark Papermaster's departure for Apple took a hard right toward Lifetime TV town this week after some new information shed light on just how far IBM went to keep him on the payroll. Imploring Papermaster to remain in the Big Blue camp, an unnamed exec asked the new iPod head at Apple to "consider the effect of his decision on his family." When Papermaster declined the offer, thereby choosing free iPods over discount blade servers, IBM sued him for violation of a non-compete contract. Per a judge's emergency order, Papermaster is currently not working for Apple until this is cleared up. If nothing else comes of this, at the very least Papermaster has some interesting additions for his updated resume. [CRN]

Send an email to Jack Loftus, the author of this post, at .