BlackBerry

Another BlackBerry executive is leaving the company though it will be a few more months before Sebastien Marineau-Mes, the Waterloo's senior vice president of software, is allowed to start his new position at Apple. According to public documents filed by the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, BlackBerry is enforcing a non-compete contract that requires Marineau-Mes to give six months notice before resigning.

Marineau-Mes accepted a promotion to his current position at BlackBerry last September, which it turns out is around the same time he first began meeting with Apple to discuss taking over as VP of Core OS at Cupertino. The promotion also occurred during what was supposed to be a promotion freeze for BlackBerry, and included the clause requiring he give six months notice before leaving the company.

After offering just two months notice when he broke the news to BlackBerry last December, Marineau-Mes wound up in court where he was ordered to complete the full six months. That means the software exec won't be leaving Waterloo until June 23. Whether his position at Apple will still be available then is unclear.

Marineau-Mes was a valued employee at BlackBerry, helping develop the BlackBerry 10 platform that runs on its latest smartphones. It's no surprise the company wants to keep him around for as long as possible, though a statement sent to iMore suggests the decision was based more on principle than anything else. "BlackBerry will not stand by while a former employee violates his employment contract," the company wrote.

Hopefully BlackBerry can get its money's worth out of Marineau-Mes in his last few months, before it's forced to choose someone else to lead its software department.