Sept. 8 (Bloomberg) -- Motorola Inc. the world's third- largest maker of mobile phones, claimed in a lawsuit that BlackBerry maker Research In Motion Ltd. is illegally stealing its workers in violation of an agreement between the two rivals.

Since February, Research In Motion has targeted at least 40 Motorola employees who can't work at the new company without revealing trade secrets, Motorola said in a lawsuit filed Sept. 4 in state court in Cook County, Illinois.

Motorola, based in Schaumburg, Illinois, asked a judge to bar Research In Motion from using Motorola's confidential information or soliciting or hiring any Motorola employees. Motorola also seeks more than $50,000 in damages.

``Motorola is threatened with losing customers, employees, technology, its competitive advantage, its trade secrets and goodwill in amounts which may be impossible to determine,'' the company said in a court filing.

Research In Motion spokeswoman Marisa Conway, of the public relations firm Brodeur Worldwide in New York, didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. Research In Motion is based in Waterloo, Ontario.

Motorola included in the filing three e-mails to its employees, whose names were blacked out, from a recruitment specialist at Research In Motion. The e-mails told the employees that their names were found on a Web site and that Research In Motion had jobs available in which they might be interested.

The case is Motorola Inc. v. Research In Motion Corp., 08ch32748, Circuit Court, Cook County, Illinois (Chancery Division).

To contact the reporter on this story: Joe Schneider in Toronto at jschneider5@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: September 8, 2008 13:00 EDT