Apple Settles Lawsuit With Employee Accused of Stealing Trade Secrets

Apple this week settled a lawsuit with Simon Lancaster, a former employee accused of using his position within the company to steal "sensitive trade secret information" that was provided to a tech journalist.

project x feature yellow
According to The Verge, Lancaster will pay an undisclosed amount of money to Apple and will avoid discussing engineering data, confidential business information, and data about unreleased products.

Apple first filed a lawsuit against Lancaster in March 2021 after the company discovered he had leaked sensitive company information to a tech journalist who used that data to publish articles. Lancaster worked at Apple for more than a decade, and at the time that he stole information, he had a role as an Advanced Materials Lead and Product Design Architect.

Lancaster had access to secretive information as he was responsible for evaluating materials and prototyping innovations for future hardware devices. Apple said that he used his seniority to attend internal meetings and access documents that were outside of the scope of his job responsibilities.

Lancaster began leaking details to a media contact in late 2018, and he exchanged information for favors such as positive coverage of a startup that he invested in. Prior to leaving Apple, he downloaded a "substantial number" of confidential Apple documents that included details on unreleased Apple hardware products, including a device Apple referred to as Project X.

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Top Rated Comments

ProfessionalFan Avatar
39 months ago

Man working at that company has got to be so uncomfortable - always under surveillance. Never trusted.
You’re not allowed to steal trade secrets from any company. And clearly not always under surveillance since he was able to do this for some time before being caught. Odd take to side with the guy who did this.
Score: 29 Votes (Like | Disagree)
NY Guitarist Avatar
39 months ago
What's Project X? ;)
Score: 20 Votes (Like | Disagree)
TheYayAreaLiving ?️ Avatar
39 months ago
Someone find out what Project X is, please. It’s going to be hard going to sleep now. We definitely didn’t see it this year. Maybe next year? ?
Score: 15 Votes (Like | Disagree)
The Cappy Avatar
39 months ago
"Lancaster had access to secretive information..."

I do not think that word means what you think it means.
Score: 15 Votes (Like | Disagree)
I7guy Avatar
39 months ago
The guy was a thief and lucky he didn’t wind up in jail.
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)
TheYayAreaLiving ?️ Avatar
39 months ago

Project X cunningly disguised as Project 10 to flush such leakers out.
The Leakers are definitely out of the game now. Nowadays we just have to rely on Mark Gurman & Kuo. It seems like all they do is speculate. Back then we had actual leakers leaking accurate stuff from Apple.

https://www.macrumors.com/2021/06/24/reliable-leaker-kang-hit-with-warning/
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)