Chinese citizen and former Apple engineer Di Liu is facing a high-stakes lawsuit after allegedly stealing thousands of proprietary Vision Pro documents before deceptively joining competitor Snap while claiming health issues as his reason for departure.
Key Takeaways
- Apple filed a lawsuit against former employee Di Liu on June 24 in Santa Clara County Superior Court for allegedly stealing confidential Vision Pro research before joining competitor Snap.
- Liu reportedly downloaded thousands of proprietary documents to personal cloud storage, deliberately selecting, renaming, and reorganizing files while taking steps to conceal his actions.
- The former engineer allegedly lied about leaving for health reasons when he had already secured employment at Snap, delaying Apple’s security protocols for revoking system access.
- Apple seeks unspecified financial damages, forensic examination of Liu’s devices, and the return of all stolen documents that could potentially be used in Snap’s competing AR products.
- This case highlights the growing problem of intellectual property theft in the tech industry, particularly with employees moving between competing companies.
Deceptive Departure Exposes Apparent Trade Secret Theft
Apple has launched legal action against former employee Di Liu, a San Jose resident and Chinese citizen, for allegedly stealing thousands of confidential documents related to its Vision Pro headset technology before leaving to work for social media company Snap. The lawsuit, filed on June 24 in Santa Clara County Superior Court, claims Liu engaged in deliberate deception by claiming he was departing for personal health reasons on October 30, 2024, when he had already secured employment with Snap by October 18, as evidenced through LinkedIn observations. This alleged dishonesty allowed Liu to maintain access to Apple’s internal systems longer than the company’s security protocols would normally permit.
“Mr. Liu’s actions were deliberate; logs on his Apple-issued work laptop show that Mr. Liu individually selected the folders he copied and, in some cases, renamed and reorganized them after moving them to his personal cloud storage account,” Apple said in the complaint. “Further, Mr. Liu took actions to conceal movement of the files, intentionally deleting files from his Apple-issued work laptop,” declared by Apple.
The lawsuit claims that Liu told Apple he was leaving “to spend more time with his family and take care of his health,” a statement that Apple now alleges was deliberately misleading,” according to court documents, Liu’s deception was calculated to give him continued access to Apple’s internal systems, allowing him to exfiltrate thousands of documents containing proprietary information. Apple’s legal team is pursuing damages and demanding the return of all stolen materials, highlighting the serious nature of intellectual property theft in the competitive tech landscape.
Strategic Theft Targets Vision Pro Technology
The documents Liu allegedly stole contain sensitive information about Apple’s Vision Pro technology, including product design details, codenames, technology specifications, and supply chain information. While Apple cannot determine the exact content of all downloaded files, the company suggests there’s significant overlap between the stolen information and Snap’s AR Spectacles products – Liu’s new area of responsibility as a “product design engineer” at Snap. The lawsuit specifically notes that Liu’s systematic approach to selecting and organizing the files demonstrates this wasn’t a case of accidentally taking work documents but rather a deliberate effort to acquire valuable intellectual property.
“The overlap between Apple’s Proprietary Information that Mr. Liu retained and Snap’s AR products (for which Mr. Liu is a ‘product design engineer’) suggests that Mr. Liu intends to use Apple’s Proprietary Information at Snap,” according to the filing.
Apple’s legal complaint further alleges that “Worse still, the review of Mr. Liu’s Apple-issued work laptop also shows that while maintaining access to Apple’s Proprietary Information under false pretenses, he used his Apple credentials to exfiltrate thousands of documents containing Proprietary Information from Apple’s secure file storage systems,” stated the iPhone maker’s lawyers
Snap Distances Itself From Employee’s Actions
While Liu is the sole defendant in this case, the implications for his current employer, Snap, are significant. The social media company has quickly moved to distance itself from Liu’s alleged actions, issuing a statement that they’ve found no connection between the allegations and Liu’s work at Snap. However, Apple’s lawsuit specifically notes the competitive overlap between Vision Pro technology and Snap’s AR products, suggesting the company believes the information could potentially be used to benefit a direct competitor in the augmented reality space.
“We have reviewed the allegations in Apple’s Complaint and have no reason to believe they are related to this individual’s employment or conduct at Snap,” stated a Snap spokesperson.
This case highlights Apple’s aggressive approach to protecting its intellectual property, particularly as it faces increasing competition in the AR/VR space. The company is seeking unspecified financial damages, a complete forensic examination of Liu’s devices, and the return of all proprietary information. The lawsuit is part of a pattern of similar legal actions by Apple against former employees accused of misappropriating trade secrets, including several cases involving alleged sharing of information with China-linked organizations. As American tech companies continue to face intellectual property challenges, this case serves as another reminder of the high stakes involved in protecting innovative technologies from competitive espionage.
