But why would you want/need to do that? I'm not an expert on labor law, but AFAIK the company doesn't have any legal ownership claim to the employees or their services; employment in the US is at-will (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/At-will_employment), so if Apple and a Color employee come to an agreement that the Color employee will go to Apple, Color doesn't have much say in the matter. There's no Reserve Clause (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reserve_clause) in tech.

Maybe the employees signed a non-compete agreement, and what Apple is buying from Color is a waiver on those agreements? Non-competes don't have a great record of standing up in court, but OTOH $2 million split 20 ways isn't that much money per person either; might be considered cheaper than the risk of a legal challenge. I dunno.

The reporting on this story could definitely do with some additional detail, but given how rapidly the story's been changing we may just have to wait an hour or two for that detail to be uncovered :D