Overview

• Apple filed suit July 17 in the Northern District of California under the Defend Trade Secrets Act and Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, seeking injunctive relief, damages, and orders to return or destroy confidential materials.
• Court documents claim Ramacciotti obtained engineer Ethan Lipnik’s passcode, used location tracking to wait until Lipnik was away, and accessed his development iPhone running a pre-release iOS 26 build.
• Prosser is accused of recording the FaceTime demonstration with screen‐capture tools and using the footage to create public renderings of iOS 26 designs on his YouTube channels.
• Apple terminated Lipnik for failing to secure his prototype device and warns the handset contained additional undisclosed trade secrets that may have been compromised.
• Prosser denies plotting any break-in or knowing how the information was obtained and says he looks forward to contesting the allegations in court.