Apple Sues Former Employee Simon Lancaster for Leaking Trade Secrets to Media
Welcome to The Outwrite Podcast, this article is published on “theoutwrite.com” by Varun Singh Rajput. Apple sues Simon Lancaster, who associated with the company for 11 years as an Advanced Materials Lead, and Product Design Architect. He has been accused to trade secret information with some specific media houses for his personal benefits. Being a veteran designer in Apple, Simon had access to many secret and unreleased products in the company.
The court document filed which was made public recently states:
“Despite over a decade of employment at Apple, Lancaster abused his position and trust within the company, to systematically disseminate Apple’s sensitive trade secret information in an effort to obtain personal benefits. He used his seniority to gain access to internal meetings and documents, outside the scope of his job’s responsibilities containing Apple’s trade secrets, and he provided these trade secrets to his outside media correspondent.”
Apple also claimed that “The Correspondent then published the stolen trade secrets in articles, citing a “source” at Apple. On multiple occasions, Lancaster proposed that the Correspondent give benefits to Lancaster in exchange for Apple’s trade secrets. For example, Lancaster proposed that the Correspondent provide favourable coverage of a startup company in which Lancaster was an investor as a quid pro quo. Lancaster even recruited the Correspondent to serve as his personal investigator. In one instance, Lancaster requested that the Correspondent explore a rumour that could prove harmful toa company in which Lancaster had invested.”
On the 22nd of November 2019, Simon Lancaster on his Linkedin page talked about his journey in Apple and why he left the company. He shares why working with Apple was awesome, ” In 2008 Apple was the place to be. They were not just at the forefront of consumer products but at the forefront of material science and engineering. There was a strange symbiosis between what consumers wanted, and what was possible with the technology at the time. At every turn, I was able to step up, and help the engineering product design department take sketches off the drawing board and turn them into real products. I fell in love with the magic of certain processes, like additive manufacturing and composites, and would stay on to become Apple’s advanced materials lead. Looking back, I’m not sure what was more engaging and inspiring: the people I worked with, or the products I worked on.”
After leaving the company Lancaster joined Arris Composites Inc. which is an Apple vendor, as a Head of Consumer Products. He did inform his correspondent about leaving Apple in October 2019, asking if the media house is interested in writing a story, “about a 12 year Apple Design Veteran leaving for an amazing startup.”
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