Fizx, this article is right on point, I would like to read the actual settlement, but without doing that here is my opinion:
>The Department of Justice has reached a settlement with Adobe, Google, Intel, Intuit, Apple and Pixar that prevents the companies from entering "no-poach" agreements for each other's employees.
So I would still say the general rule is these types of "anti-poach employee agreements" are legal but the DOJ has carved out an exception as it relates to ONLY these six companies, where they cannot enter into said agreements with each other. However, as you notice Palm was not part of the DOJ settlement, so without reading the Settlement itself I would still suggest Apple has rights to enter into such an agreement with Palm or any company not one of the six.
http://mashable.com/2010/09/24/doj-anticompetitive-employee-...