Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

OPPO Responds to Apple's Trade Secrets Lawsuit

MacRumors

MacRumors

macrumors bot
Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
69,475
40,580


Apple on Thursday filed a lawsuit against its former employee Chen Shi, as well as the companies OPPO and InnoPeak Technology, over alleged trade secret misappropriation. Apple alleges that Shi "conspired to steal Apple's trade secrets relating to Apple Watch and to disclose them to his new employers, OPPO and InnoPeak."

Apple-Watch-Series-10-Jet-Black.jpg

OPPO is a Chinese company that sells smartphones, tablets, smartwatches, and other devices, while California-based InnoPeak Technology says it "performs cutting-edge research in smartphone technologies."

A spokesperson for OPPO has since shared the following statement with MacRumors:
We are aware of the recent lawsuit filed by Apple in California and have carefully reviewed the allegations in Apple's complaint. We have found no evidence establishing any connection between these allegations and the employee's conduct during his employment at OPPO.

OPPO respects the trade secrets of all companies, including Apple, and OPPO has not misappropriated Apple's trade secrets. OPPO will actively cooperate with the legal process, and we are confident that fair judicial proceedings will clarify the facts.
Click to expand...
Read our previous coverage of the lawsuit for more details.

Article Link: OPPO Responds to Apple's Trade Secrets Lawsuit
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2025/08/23/oppo-responds-to-apple-lawsuit/
  • Like
Reactions: brucemr and ipedro
MayaUser said:
Like Apple in general do this without any evidence
Click to expand...
Did you even bother to read the previous article or the lawsuit summary before posting? Apple claims that Shi downloaded confidential documents to a USB drive and promised to provide material to a competitor. Or are you simply believing their denial, which any company would do in this situation?
 
  • Like
Reactions: whoknows2597, Timpetus, harold.ji and 29 others
Stop hiring Chinese nationals. It's become such a huge problem across the defense industry, technology corporations, and countless other examples. American universities welcome Chinese students (and revenue from the CCP) with open arms, only for them to absorb and frequently steal as much intellectual property as they can get their hands on and flee back to China. It's ridiculous. Time to stop rolling out the red carpet for these people.
 
  • Like
  • Disagree
  • Love
Reactions: siddavis, Timpetus, azwindmill and 54 others
haunebu said:
Stop hiring Chinese nationals. It's become such a huge problem across the defense industry, technology corporations, and countless other examples. American universities welcome Chinese students (and revenue from the CCP) with open arms, only for them to absorb and frequently steal as much intellectual property as they can get their hands on and flee back to China. It's ridiculous. Time to stop rolling out the red carpet for these people.
Click to expand...

It’s a systemic issue on so many levels that got us to this point. Universities profit from foreigners because they pay full price for tuition even in state schools. For instance a highly educated and intelligent America child will more likely than not go into law or medicine and never give the defense industry consideration. Corporations love to hire foreigns because they can under pay them compared to the American counterparts. That’s not even touching our in general abandonment of education in a culturally level vs China embracing it. It’s frustrating when looking at the big picture and realizing there is no simple solution.
 
  • Like
  • Disagree
Reactions: Timpetus, azwindmill, RealE and 23 others
MayaUser said:
Like Apple in general do this without any evidence
Click to expand...
My first impression of your comment was that you are disbelieving Apple's claims made in the lawsuit. However, after reading your comment a few more times it sounds like you are dismissing the OPPO statement and believing Apple's claims and suit against the former employee. Because people can read your comment as both "for" and "against" Apple, you should edit and clarify your comment.

Edit. How I read the comment: it's unlikely Apple would do this suit without any evidence.

However, it could also be read as: "This is typical of Apple. They often sue people without having strong evidence."
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: allenvanhellen, arc of the universe and citysnaps
haunebu said:
Stop hiring Chinese nationals. It's become such a huge problem across the defense industry, technology corporations, and countless other examples. American universities welcome Chinese students (and revenue from the CCP) with open arms, only for them to absorb and frequently steal as much intellectual property as they can get their hands on and flee back to China. It's ridiculous. Time to stop rolling out the red carpet for these people.
Click to expand...
It’s unfortunate to lump all people together - and it’s stereotyping them. At the same time, operatives of their party seem to want to steal everything they can. At some point there has to be a way to stop it. At the same time, I think patent laws need changing and enforcement worldwide.
 
  • Disagree
  • Like
  • Love
Reactions: space808, fzJNotIBOxgnbqejSeVCvJScL, JustinKent and 2 others
haunebu said:
Stop hiring Chinese nationals. It's become such a huge problem across the defense industry, technology corporations, and countless other examples. American universities welcome Chinese students (and revenue from the CCP) with open arms, only for them to absorb and frequently steal as much intellectual property as they can get their hands on and flee back to China. It's ridiculous. Time to stop rolling out the red carpet for these people.
Click to expand...
This reads like an misinformed angry commoner thinking an entire race of people is out to get him. They are not stealing your secrets which you have no hand in creating.

The many Chinese nationals in the US is actually what is allowing the US to lead in tech areas such as AI and at Apple. Half of all AI researchers are Chinese.

At this point, China leads in many 37/44 tech areas. The only area they're truly behind is EUV chips.

www.theguardian.com

China leading US in technology race in all but a few fields, thinktank finds

Year-long study finds China leads in 37 of 44 areas it tracked, with potential for a monopoly in areas such as nanoscale materials and synthetic biology
www.theguardian.com www.theguardian.com
 
Last edited:
  • Like
  • Disagree
  • Love
Reactions: tongxinshe, Timpetus, azwindmill and 24 others
neuropsychguy said:
My first impression of your comment was that you are disbelieving Apple's claims made in the lawsuit. However, after reading your comment a few more times it sounds like you are dismissing the OPPO statement and believing Apple's claims and suit against the former employee. Because people can read your comment as both "for" and "against" Apple, you should edit and clarify your comment.
Click to expand...
Thank you for pointing out that some of us may have taken the comment in a way opposite to what was intended. If that’s the case, I apologize.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Sergio The One and SFjohn
ThailandToo said:
It’s unfortunate to lump all people together - and it’s stereotyping them. At the same time, operatives of their party seem to want to steal everything they can. At some point there has to be a way to stop it. At the same time, I think patent laws need changing and enforcement worldwide.
Click to expand...
The problem is self-correcting. China graduates FAR more engineers and scientists from their own universities than the US does. It is more than a ten-to-one ratio. So many of the papers I read recently are from Chinese sources.

Soon the trend wil flip
 
  • Like
Reactions: shadowbird423, harold.ji, space808 and 2 others
Roller said:
Thank you for pointing out that some of us may have taken the comment in a way opposite to what was intended. If that’s the case, I apologize.
Click to expand...
I like to give people the benefit of the doubt, especially when something is worded as poorly as that comment.

How I read the comment after rereading it a few times: "It's unlikely Apple would do this suit without any evidence."

However, it could also be read as: "This is typical of Apple. They often sue people without having strong evidence."

🤷‍♂️
 
ChrisA said:
The problem is self-correcting. China graduates FAR more engineers and scientists from their own universities than the US does. It is more than a ten-to-one ratio. So many of the papers I read recently are from Chinese sources.

Soon the trend wil flip
Click to expand...
Fact is the Chinese government always steal IP from western companies and gives the IP to the Chinese companies to build.
 
  • Like
  • Disagree
Reactions: nt5672, harold.ji, Masonry and 9 others
neuropsychguy said:
I like to give people the benefit of the doubt, especially when something is worded as poorly as that comment.

How I read the comment after rereading it a few times: "It's unlikely Apple would do this suit without any evidence."

However, it could also be read as: "This is typical of Apple. They often sue people without having strong evidence."

🤷‍♂️
Click to expand...
Seeing how Apple does rigorously defends their IP, I am certain that Apple does not make a case without the evidence to prove it. I wished more companies did the same.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 212rikanmofo
What I find amazing, and a bit amusing, is that this Shi fellow possibly did not know, or understand, that all his actions on the corporate net are monitored and stored. Now, maybe he knew, did not care, and figured he would be long gone by the time Apple found out. Who knows? However, I would almost think that in the future, whenever an employee gives notice to leave, Apple will immediately review all of their keyboard activity. A bit surprised they don't do that already.

As for OPPO's response, that is the lawyer speaking. Now that the cat is out of the bag, I expect OPPO will distance itself from Shi, possibly end his employment, and throw him to the wolves. OPPO could quietly approach Apple, issue a mea culpa, terminate Shi, and license the technology. No harm, no foul. Mostly.

If OPPO brings to market any tech that vaguely looks 'Apple', Apple will be on them in a heartbeat.
 
  • Like
Reactions: DailySlow
neuropsychguy said:
My first impression of your comment was that you are disbelieving Apple's claims made in the lawsuit. However, after reading your comment a few more times it sounds like you are dismissing the OPPO statement and believing Apple's claims and suit against the former employee. Because people can read your comment as both "for" and "against" Apple, you should edit and clarify your comment.

Edit. How I read the comment: it's unlikely Apple would do this suit without any evidence.

However, it could also be read as: "This is typical of Apple. They often sue people without having strong evidence."
Click to expand...
There are numerous CCP loyalists that frequent popular social media pages and tech blogs like this so they can counter any anti China comments. Don't be under any misunderstanding, this site has many of those here and it's obvious when you know the telltale signs.
 
  • Like
  • Disagree
Reactions: Timpetus, nt5672, harold.ji and 6 others
haunebu said:
Stop hiring Chinese nationals. It's become such a huge problem across the defense industry, technology corporations, and countless other examples. American universities welcome Chinese students (and revenue from the CCP) with open arms, only for them to absorb and frequently steal as much intellectual property as they can get their hands on and flee back to China. It's ridiculous. Time to stop rolling out the red carpet for these people.
Click to expand...
You do realize most Apple products are made in China by Chinese nationals? 😂
 
  • Like
Reactions: harold.ji, attila, freedomlinux and 3 others
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back