According to a recent TechCrunch report, before the Google CEO Eric Schmidt announced his decision to step down from Apple's board of directors, both Google and Apple had worked out an 'unwritten' agreement whereby they decided to avoid plundering each other's employees.

As per the unofficial agreement between Google and Apple, though the employees of one company would be allowed to apply for jobs at the other company, the two companies have decided against deliberate attempts to pursue hiring away workers from each other.

Thus far, tech companies have been fiercely engaged in implicit battles to retain top engineering talents in their ranks; and even poaching top-notch executives of rival companies. However, The Washington Post's June report said that the US Justice Department had initiated an industry-wide probe into the supposed violation of antitrust laws by companies negotiating the recruitment and hiring of one another's workers.

Schmidt's last week announcement of resigning from the Apple board, after a three-year stint, came after the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) recently said that it would investigate into the supposed overlap between the Apple and Google boards.

About Schmidt's resignation, Apple CEO Steve Jobs said that Schmidt's "effectiveness as an Apple Board member will be significantly diminished" particularly since Google is not only launching its own mobile operating system, Android; but also developing its netbook operating system, Chrome OS.