Apple sues China’s Oppo, ex-engineer over alleged theft of Watch trade secrets
The employee downloaded confidential Apple documents before joining Oppo’s US research arm, the iPhone maker says
The complaint, filed on Thursday in federal court in San Jose, California, claimed that Shi Chen, a former sensor system architect for the Apple Watch team, obtained confidential information from the iPhone maker before joining Oppo’s Silicon Valley-based US research arm, InnoPeak Technology.
Apple said Shi, who worked at the company from 2020 until June this year, downloaded 63 documents from a “protected Box folder” onto a USB drive a day before his departure.
The company also asserted that he held dozens of one-on-one meetings with Apple Watch engineers to gather sensitive details about ongoing research and development projects, while being fully aware of the importance of keeping those information confidential.
According to the filing, Shi shared updates about his secret activities with Oppo’s vice-president of health, Zeng Zijing, who wrote “alright”, followed by an “ok” emoji, in response to Shi’s message.