Apple has settled its lawsuit against Simon Lancaster, a former design architect, who the company accused of stealing trade secrets and sharing them with a journalist, reports The Verge.
The tech giant filed its suit in March 2021, and the settlement order was approved by a judge this week. Apple claimed that Lancaster, former materials lead at the company, accessed outside of his job’s scope then sold it to a media outlet.
“Despite over a decade of employment at Apple, Lancaster abused his position and trust within the company to systematically disseminate Apple’s sensitive trade secret information in an effort to obtain personal benefits,” Apple said in a court document. “He used his seniority to gain access to internal meetings and documents outside the scope of his job’s responsibilities containing Apple’s trade secrets, and he provided these trade secrets to his outside media correspondent.”
Apple requests that the court provide judgment in its favor for injunctive relief, damages proven at trial, punitive damages, restitution, and costs of the lawsuit. Apple also demands a trial by jury.
The lawsuit didn’t mention which products has secret details leaked. However, “based on the timeline of events, AppleInsider said that this is related to the ongoing rumors about “Apple Glass” and Apple’s augmented and virtual reality efforts, or possibly the AirPods Max.
The Verge says that, as part of the settlement, Lancaster will pay an undisclosed sum to Apple and is barred from “disclosing, communicating, transferring, discussing, or using any Confidential Information, in any form, without Apple’s express prior written authorization,” according to the order.
