Apple Sues Former Employee for Allegedly Leaking To the Press (cnet.com) 28
Apple says a former product design employee stole information about hardware products, unannounced features and future plans and leaked them to a journalist, breaking the company's nondisclosure policies and trade secrets laws. From a report: In the the lawsuit, filed Thursday in the US District Court of the Northern District of California, Apple outlined a working relationship between a former employee, Simon Lancaster, and an unnamed journalist. The tech giant alleges Lancaster used his access at the company to download confidential information and attend meetings specifically to forward to this media contact. Apple said he attended one of his last meetings at the company, about "Project X" as it's called in the filing, after submitting his resignation despite being instructed by others not to attend. Apple Insider earlier reported the news.
"Tens of thousands of Apple employees work tirelessly every day on new products, services and features in the hopes of delighting our customers and empowering them to change the world," an Apple spokesman said in an emailed statement. "Stealing ideas and confidential information undermines their efforts, hurting Apple and our customers." Lancaster didn't immediately respond to requests for comment. Lancaster's website and LinkedIn page say he worked on product design for the MacBook Pro TouchBar, the Apple Watch and iPhone, among other devices. He's listed on more than a dozen patents and patent applications while working for the company.
"Tens of thousands of Apple employees work tirelessly every day on new products, services and features in the hopes of delighting our customers and empowering them to change the world," an Apple spokesman said in an emailed statement. "Stealing ideas and confidential information undermines their efforts, hurting Apple and our customers." Lancaster didn't immediately respond to requests for comment. Lancaster's website and LinkedIn page say he worked on product design for the MacBook Pro TouchBar, the Apple Watch and iPhone, among other devices. He's listed on more than a dozen patents and patent applications while working for the company.
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By this weekend I expect 30% of the comments to be exactly this, complaints about Apple, and most of them completely unrelated to this issue. Haters just looking for an excuse to hate. They don't need to have anything to spin, they hear "Apple" and are immediately triggered.
Re: Nothing to see here (Score:2)
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Oh but someone will spin this into an anti Apple statement.
Yes. [slashdot.org] Because I can be "courageous" too.
Re: Nothing to see here (Score:2)
Maybe the employee was just taking his 30% cut, or is Apple against taking a 30% cut of someone else's work now? ;)
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What did the leaker get? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: What did the leaker get? (Score:1)
Given his position, length of career and Apple stock price, it is unlikely he needs a job.
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Sounds like he already has another job. Maybe the people who hired him are glad to get his insider knowledge.
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I'd never hire someone trying to get the job by violating his NDA and/or bringing in insider knowledge from his previous employer. If he did it once, you can count on him doing it again. And it could be your NDA he violates and/or your insider knowledge next time that he tries to take to the next job. No matter how tempting it may be to get a leg up in the short term; between potential liability from his previous employer, and the potential loss of your own IP when he gets bored and wants to move on agai
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Was he paid by the journalist? Seems a waste of a career just to get some street cred. Dude's going to have a hard time being hired by anyone with this stain on his permanent record. :)
I suspect that would have been in the article.
It could simply be the case that they were friends and he liked giving his friend scoops.
As if the employees care (Score:1)
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"Tens of thousands of Apple employees work tirelessly every day on new products, services and features in the hopes of delighting our customers and empowering them to change the world"
is the lawyer trying to insinuate that the employees care about another employee spilling the beans. nobody cares except upper management.
Upper management are employees too, no?
Re:As if the employees care (Score:4, Insightful)
Upper management are employees too, no?
Yup, and they're the ones with "courage" that decide if engineers will fix all the years-old bugs introduced by the stupid yearly release cycles that management also sets, and that decision is pretty much always "no don't fix it".
That's "delighting our customers" for ya!
Re:As if the employees care (Score:4, Insightful)
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What is it with all these stupid Foxconn comments in every Apple-related threads? All the fucking computers and electronics companies use Foxconn, this is not a special Apple-only problem.
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Have you forgotten? That this is Slashdot; where the groupthink about the iPod is: "No wireless. Less space than a Nomad. Lame." Never mind that the Nomad that had more space didn't have wireless either, weighed as much as a brick, and had crap for battery life. Because it was made by someone other than Apple; it was obviously superior to the iPod in every respect. Keep that in mind and extrapolate forward. The bias is open and overt and the specious complaints apply to the company's entire product lin
Please be Jon Prosser's source... (Score:2)
Here's breaking news (Score:2, Informative)
Apple to release more overpriced wall-gardened products for the discerning pedant.
There. I just revealed Apple's entire business strategy for the next 30 years, and I didn't even attend a single sensitive meeting.
Re: Here's breaking news (Score:1)
Lack of controls at Apple (Score:4, Insightful)
" Apple said he attended one of his last meetings at the company, about "Project X" as it's called in the filing, after submitting his resignation despite being instructed by others not to attend. "
For a company that spent $6Billion+ on a new (and probably vastly empty right now) campus, they seem to have a severe lack of priorities for funding proper controls for access to what they claim is proprietary and confidential information.
Nothing to see... (Score:4, Funny)
"Leaks need to be about things with value."
And we can see what a terrible effect that's had (Score:2)
I mean, Apple's share price has been wiped away by all this abominable behaviour. I hope the court reflects that in its punishment by fining the guy $1 and sending him on his way.
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