Another day, another lawsuit. But this time it’s Apple doing the suing.
The tech giant is suing Apple leaker Jon Prosser for the alleged theft of trade secrets related to iOS 26. As reported by The Verge, Prosser is accused of tasking another man, Michael Ramacciotti, with secretly accessing an Apple employee’s development iPhone and using that information to report on Apple’s planned changes in the then-unannounced iOS 26.
From the lawsuit: Apple’s subsequent investigation revealed that Defendant Jon Prosser—working with Defendant Michael Ramacciottiimproperly accessed and disclosed Apple’s highly confidential, unreleased software designs, including details regarding the unreleased iOS 19 operating system (which is now known as iOS 26) for Apple mobile devices.
Both Defendants knew that Apple goes to great lengths to protect its trade secret information, including the highly sensitive information contained on devices used for the express purpose of developing new products. Defendants also explicitly acknowledged they were not authorized to access those devices, much less steal Apple’s trade secrets from them.
Defendants’ misconduct was brazen and egregious. After Mr. Prosser learned that Mr. Ramacciotti needed money, and that his friend Ethan Lipnik worked at Apple on unreleased software designs, Defendants jointly planned to access Apple’s confidential and trade secret information through Mr. Lipnik’s Apple-owned development iPhone (the “Development iPhone”). Apple learned the details of the scheme in Mr. Ramacciotti’s own words—through an audio message to Mr. Lipnik, which Mr. Lipnik provided to Apple.
Apple is asking for both damages and a court order preventing Prosser from disclosing Apple’s trade secrets again.
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