Apple Claims Ex-Employee, China’s Oppo Stole Trade Secrets
By Newley Purnell
August 22, 2025 at 2:15 PM EDT
Updated on August 22, 2025 at 10:26 PM EDT- Apple Inc. accused Oppo of poaching a highly paid member of the Apple Watch team and encouraging him to steal trade secrets for his new job with the Chinese firm.
- Sensor system architect Chen Shi secretly accessed confidential documents on Apple’s health-sensing technologies for Oppo’s benefit to develop a competing wearable device before departing Apple.
- Apple alleges that Shi violated a confidentiality and IP agreement, and that Oppo knew of and encouraged his activities, according to the complaint.
Apple Inc. accused smartphone maker Oppo in a lawsuit of poaching a highly paid member of the Apple Watch team and encouraging him to steal trade secrets for his new job with the Chinese firm.
Sensor system architect Chen Shi secretly accessed confidential documents on Apple’s health-sensing technologies for Oppo’s benefit to develop a competing wearable device before departing Apple in June, according to a complaint filed Thursday in federal court in San Jose, California.
“Concealing his impending employment with a direct competitor, Dr. Shi set up and attended dozens of one-on-one meetings with Apple Watch technical team members to learn about their ongoing research,” according to the complaint.
In addition, “late at night just three days before leaving Apple, Dr. Shi downloaded 63 documents from a protected Box folder,” according to the complaint. “He then transferred them to a USB drive one day before his departure.”
Apple has filed numerous suits in recent years accusing ex-employees and rival companies of breaching contracts and stealing valuable intellectual property. At least three of the iPhone maker’s former engineers who worked on its now abandoned electric vehicle autonomous driving project have been criminally prosecuted for allegedly taking secrets to China. The tech giant also has been locked in a court battle with Irvine, California-based Masimo Corp. since 2020 over smartwatch technology.
Shi concealed his defection to Oppo, known as Guangdong Oppo Mobile Telecommunications Corp., by falsely telling his colleagues at Cupertino, California-based Apple that he was returning to China to take care of his aging parents, according to the complaint.
Apple says Shi violated a confidentiality and IP agreement, and that Oppo knew of and encouraged his activities.
Shi couldn’t be reached for comment via LinkedIn, where a profile appearing to belong to him says he worked at Apple since 2020. Apple didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
Oppo is aware of the lawsuit and has reviewed Apple’s allegations, a representative for the company said in a WeChat message.
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