Apple Accuses Former Engineer of Taking Vision Pro Secrets To Snap

Apple has filed (PDF) a lawsuit against former Vision Pro engineer Di Liu, accusing him of stealing thousands of confidential files related to his work on Apple's augmented reality headset for the benefit of his new employer Snap. The company alleges Liu misled colleagues about his departure, secretly accepted a job offer from Snap, and attempted to cover his tracks by deleting files -- actions Apple claims violated his confidentiality agreement. The Register reports: Liu secretly received a job offer from Snap on October 18, 2024, a role the complaint describes as 'substantially similar' to his Apple position, meaning Liu waited nearly two weeks to resign from Apple, per the lawsuit. 'Even then, he did not disclose he was leaving for Snap,' the suit said. 'Apple would not have allowed Mr. Liu continued access had he told the truth.' Liu allegedly copied 'more than a dozen folders containing thousands of files' from Apple's filesystem to a personal cloud storage account, dropping the stolen bits in a pair of nested folders with the amazingly nondescript names 'Personal' and 'Knowledge.'

Apple said that data Liu copied includes 'filenames containing confidential Apple product code names' and files 'marked as Apple confidential.' Company research, product design, and supply chain management documents were among the content Liu is accused of stealing. The complaint also alleges that Liu deleted files to conceal his activities, a move that may hinder Apple's ability to determine the full scope of the data he exfiltrated. 'Mr. Liu additionally took actions to conceal his theft, including deceiving Apple about his job at Snap, and deleting files from his Apple-issued computer that might have let Apple determine what data Mr. Liu stole,' the complaint noted.

Whatever he has, Apple wants it back. The company demands a jury trial on a single count of breach of contract under a confidentiality and intellectual property agreement Liu was bound to. It also asks the court to compel Liu to return all misappropriated data, award damages to be determined at trial, and reimburse Apple's costs and attorneys' fees.

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