Apple has today filed a lawsuit against Simon Lancaster, a former employee who allegedly used his position within the company to steal from Apple “confidential trade secret information” that was later leaked to a journalist and published in articles about rumors.
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Lancaster worked at Apple for more than a decade, using his seniority to attend internal meetings and access documents that Apple says were “beyond the scope of the responsibilities of his job.” The details he obtained were published in media articles that “cite a” source “to Apple.”
In exchange for the leaked information, Lancaster asked for favors from the person he was in contact with the media, such as providing favorable coverage of a new company in which Lancaster invested.
Until November 1, 2019, Lancaster worked as an advanced product and material design architect involved in various hardware projects. His role was to evaluate prototyping materials and innovations for future hardware devices. He began leaking contact details to the media on November 29, 2018 via text messages, emails and phone calls.
After resigning from Apple, Lancaster “deepened” his relationship with the media correspondent he spoke with, and Apple’s internal investigation into Apple-owned devices that Lancaster returned after the occupation suggested that communicated about “Apple-specific trade secrets,” while also taking “specifics” for additional information.On his last day, Lancaster downloaded a “considerable number” of confidential Apple documents.
In addition, the forensic review of the devices Apple provided to Lancaster for its work at Apple shows that Lancaster and the correspondent have coordinated to analyze specific documents and product information from Apple. On numerous occasions, the correspondent had asked Lancaster to obtain specific documents and information about Apple’s trade secrets. On several occasions, Lancaster sent the correspondent some of the confidential materials requested using Apple-owned devices. On other occasions, Lancaster personally met with the correspondent to provide them with the requested confidential information from Apple.
According to Apple, the information Lancaster shared included details of “unpublished Apple hardware products, unannounced feature changes to existing hardware products, and announcements of future products.” He also took on a new role at Arris Composites, a vendor that works under Apple, and Apple says it accessed confidential information that would help Arris in addition to leaking Apple documents to the media.
Apple does not provide details on which products were leaked by Lancaster, but many of the leaks occurred around October and November 2019 and referred to what Apple calls “Project X.” Just after leaving Lancaster, in fact, he spoke to the journalist who leaked details, congratulating the person on the success of an article that contained details he had leaked.
Like all Apple employees, Lancaster signed a “Confidentiality and Intellectual Property Agreement” before being hired by Apple, which prohibits them from sharing secret and proprietary information, as well as attending “security workouts” and “Business Conduct” events focused on the prevention of theft of secret documents.
Apple is now claiming damages that occurred as a result of the trade secrets Lancaster stole, and Apple plans to determine the amount in the process. Apple also wants to recover from Lancaster all the profits, benefits and advantages it obtained through document theft.
The lawsuit was first shared by AppleInsider this afternoon. Below, we’ve included the full document, which is a fascinating read that covers the culture of leaks within Apple and the times the company will go to put an end to it.