Apple has initiated legal proceedings against Di Liu, a former senior engineer for the Vision Pro, accusing him of stealing thousands of confidential documents before joining Snap.

The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages, the return of the stolen information, and access to Liu's devices and cloud accounts for inspection.

Evidence suggests that Liu manually copied a significant amount of sensitive materials, including design diagrams and unreleased features, from his company laptop to his personal cloud account.

Log data indicates that Liu not only selected and renamed specific folders but also deleted files to obscure the transfer of information.

While Snap has not been named in the lawsuit and is not accused of any wrongdoing, the company has expressed that it does not believe the claims relate to Liu's conduct during his employment there.

Despite Snap's non-involvement in the lawsuit, Apple has pointed out the overlap between the materials Liu retained and his new responsibilities at Snap.

This case highlights the risks associated with departing employees in competitive sectors, emphasizing Apple's commitment to safeguarding its intellectual property amid the escalating competition in augmented reality technology.

Apple's legal action reflects ongoing concerns regarding intellectual property protection and employee mobility within the tech industry.

This lawsuit follows a similar situation in 2024, when Apple settled a case with Rivos, which was accused of stealing trade secrets and poaching engineers from the company.