Apple has filed a lawsuit against a former Apple Watch engineer, accusing him of stealing trade secrets before leaving the company to join Chinese smartphone maker Oppo.
The lawsuit claims that Dr. Chen Shi, who previously worked as a sensor system architect at Apple, conspired to take confidential information about the Apple Watch’s health sensors and share it with his new employer.
According to Apple, Shi attended numerous meetings with technical teams shortly before his resignation and downloaded 63 sensitive documents from a protected company folder to a USB drive. He also allegedly sent Oppo messages saying he was working to “collect as much information as possible” before starting his new role. Apple says he even searched online for ways to erase evidence, including queries such as “how to wipe out MacBook” and “Can somebody see if I’ve opened a file on a shared drive?”
Shi played a key role in Apple’s development of health sensor technology, including confidential work on ECG sensors. Apple claims that messages found on Shi’s company-issued iPhone revealed Oppo not only knew about his actions but also encouraged him to take proprietary information before leaving.
In his resignation letter, Shi told Apple he was leaving for “personal and family reasons.” However, Apple says it later discovered that he now leads a sensing technology team at Oppo. Attempts by reporters to reach Oppo for comment were unsuccessful, with emails bouncing back due to a full mailbox.
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