U.S. Court Advances Apple Lawsuit Against OPPO Over Apple Watch Trade Secrets
A U.S. federal court denied a motion to dismiss Apple's trade secret lawsuit against OPPO concerning Apple Watch technology. Judge Yumi Lee ruled Apple's claims are sufficiently detailed to proceed.
A U.S. federal court has rejected an attempt to dismiss Apple's lawsuit against OPPO over alleged trade secret theft related to Apple Watch technology. According to Courthouse News, U.S. District Judge Yumi Lee ruled that Apple presented sufficiently detailed claims for the legal proceedings to move forward. This represents a legal blow to OPPO, though the ruling does not yet determine whether the company or the engineer actually stole trade secrets.
At the center of the case is Chen Shi, a former Apple engineer whom the company accuses of transferring confidential information to the Chinese competitor to secure a high-paying position. Apple claims that late at night, just three days before his departure, Shi downloaded 63 documents and copied them to a USB drive. Prior to that, according to the lawsuit, he held dozens of in-person meetings with Apple Watch technical staff to learn about ongoing research.
Apple alleges that Shi stated he was leaving to care for family members, without disclosing that he was joining OPPO. The lawsuit also claims he searched online for ways to track whether his actions could be monitored, including asking whether anyone could see that he opened a file on a shared drive.
OPPO argued that the disputed information does not constitute a trade secret and that Apple's broad definition effectively prevents Shi from working as a health sensor engineer without breaching obligations. The judge rejected this argument, stating that the agreement Shi signed prohibits him from disclosing confidential company information. She also determined that Apple presented specific claims regarding at least one trade secret and that its breach of contract claims are sufficient on their own to continue the proceedings.
OPPO and InnoPeak are now required to submit their response to the lawsuit by October 21. Meanwhile, Apple's request for an order preventing the destruction of evidence remains under review, amid allegations of delays by OPPO in the document discovery process.
