Apple Files Lawsuit Against Former Employee For Allegedly Leaking Trade Secrets

Apple filed a lawsuit on Thursday against a former employee that accuses him of leaking trade secrets to an unnamed media contact during his employment.

According to a new report from AppleInsider, Apple has filed a lawsuit against Simon Lancaster, a former Apple materials engineer and product design architect, accusing him of selling trade secrets to an unnamed media outlet. Lancaster spent 11 years at Apple, where he was involved in the prototyping and design process of hardware including the MacBook, iPad, and the iMac, among other “unreleased Apple products.”

In the lawsuit, Apple asserts that Lancaster, who worked as an advanced materials lead and product design architect, “abused his position and trust within the company to systematically disseminate Apple’s sensitive trade secret information in an effort to obtain personal benefits.”

Cupertino alleges he abused his seniority to access internal meetings and sensitive info outside of his job role and then shared it with a media correspondent for favorable coverage of Arris Composites, a material design company that he joined in November 2019 as its head of consumer products.

Apple cites an internal investigation of Apple-owned devices, which it said determined the media contact requested specific Apple trade secret documents that Lancaster allegedly worked to retrieve and provide to the source through the devices or in person.

The trade secrets revolved around “unreleased Apple hardware products, unannounced feature changes to existing hardware products, and future product announcements, all of which Apple guards closely,” according to the lawsuit.

Messages sent to Lancaster and a representative for Arris Composites asking for comment were not immediately returned, explains AppleInsider.