Apple sued a former employee who worked at the company for more than a decade, claiming he shared its trade secrets with a media contact in exchange for favorable coverage of a startup he invested in.
Apple filed the complaint against Simon Lancaster on Thursday in federal court in San Jose, Calif. Apple said he served as the reporter’s source of information, a role that allegedly deepened after he left the company.
The closely guarded trade secrets covered details of unreleased hardware, unannounced feature changes and future product announcements, Apple said in the complaint.
“The deceitful and indefensible release of these product details enabled by Lancaster’s misappropriation has undermined the morale of the teams that worked on the products and features in question,” according to the complaint.
Lancaster couldn’t be immediately located. The court’s electronic records don’t list information about his legal counsel.
The lawsuit was reported earlier by The Verge.