Cupertino, California – Tech giant Apple Inc. has sued its former materials lead for alleged misappropriation of trade secrets, and then selling them to an outside media contact for personal benefits.

In a lawsuit filed in the US District court of Northern California, the company accused Simon Lancaster, who worked for around 11 years at Apple, of abusing his senior position and trust to systematically disseminate the company's sensitive trade secret information.

He allegedly accessed internal meetings and documents which contained Apple's trade secrets outside the scope of his job's responsibilities.

According to the company, the trade secrets the man stole and sent to the media correspondent for publication included details of unreleased Apple hardware products, unannounced feature changes to existing hardware products, and future product announcements, all of which Apple guards closely.

Lancaster started working at Apple in 2008 and was an Advanced Materials Lead and Product Design Architect when he resigned on November 1, 2019.

He then joined Arris Composites, a manufacturer of next-gen composites for mass market products. Apple said it is likely that Lancaster's misuse of its trade secrets continues to this day as after his resignation, he began working at a company that served as a vendor for Apple under a vendor service deal.

Portions of the trade secret information Lancaster misappropriated relate directly to his role at his new employer. Lancaster, on his last day at Apple, allegedly downloaded a substantial number of confidential documents from Apple's corporate network onto his personal computer that would benefit his new company.

In the filing, Apple is seeking injunctive relief, damages, and other appropriate relief to stop Lancaster's misappropriation, disclosure, and potential use of Apple's confidential and trade secret materials.