Apple Vision Pro / Depositphotos
Apple has accused its former senior Vision Pro engineer, Di Liu, of stealing tons of confidential information before leaving for another company.
The lawsuit refers to «thousands of files» that Liu allegedly copied to his personal cloud storage a few days before he left the company using active corporate credentials. The senior engineer cited personal reasons when he left — to spend more time with his family and focus on his health — but in fact, he had already «warmed up a position» at competitor Snap. There, he started working on augmented reality glasses.
«Because Mr. Liu did not inform Apple that he was departing to work on another company’s product, Mr. Liu was permitted to stay on at Apple for the standard two-week departure period rather than immediately losing access to Apple’s proprietary information», — the lawsuit alleges.
It was during this period, according to Apple, that he probably copied internal documents en masse, is about Vision Pro. The company claims that its security systems noticed suspicious activity, and the activity log on his work laptop showed that Liu was purposefully selecting folders, renaming them, and transferring them to his personal account. It is also reported that he deliberately removed traces — erased some files after downloading.
Apple does not know exactly what he copied. However, the lawsuit states that the amount and type of data potentially overlaps with Snap’s AR glasses developments. Apple insists on the return of all stolen information, compensation for damages, and access to Liu’s devices for inspection. The company has not made any claims against Snap as an organization. Snap, in turn, said that «has reviewed Apple’s claims and has no reason to believe that they are related to the individual’s employment or behavior at Snap».
The lawsuit was filed in Santa Clara County Superior Court on June 24. This is not the first time Apple has accused former employees of intellectual property theft. Earlier, the company sued an iOS ex-engineer who «leaked» data about Vision Pro and other products to journalists. Also under the «legal suffering» were the ex-manager and engineers who founded the Rivos startup, as well as an employee who moved to a Chinese drone company. One of the former engineers, who worked on Project TitanHe even received a real prison sentence.
Source: 9to5mac
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