14 DAY TRIAL // Apple’s former Global Supply Manager Paul Devine has been sentenced to one year in prison for leaking company secrets to component sellers in the Far East, which benefited from these leaks by negotiating favorable contracts with Apple when the time came.
Devine initially risked 20 years behind bars, but his sentence was somehow reduced to just one year, plus a fine of $4.5 million (€3.66 million), four years after the case was opened. The judge presiding over the case didn’t offer an explanation regarding the delay.
Background
Devine reportedly used his position as Global Supply Manager to obtain confidential info which he then shared with part suppliers in Asia, where most of Apple’s key manufacturers are. He would tell these parties exactly what they needed to know to negotiate favorable contracts with Apple, while the suppliers – which remain unnamed to this day – would pay him for these secrets.
Apple’s ex supply manager would then share some of the proceeds with 35-year-old Andrew Ang, who was also prosecuted.
According to the indictment papers, the parties benefiting from Devine’s leaks were located in “various countries in Asia,” including China, South Korea, Taiwan, and Singapore.
Apple doesn’t play around
When the case went to trial four years ago, the company in Cupertino, California, said through a spokesperson, “Apple is committed to the highest ethical standards in the way we do business. We have zero tolerance for dishonest behavior inside or outside the company.”
Apple indeed takes great value in protecting company secrets and intellectual property, starting from the patent applications it files on a regular basis to tracking leaks in the supply chain. Earlier this year, reports came out of China that the company had ordered law enforcement to help protect manufacturing secrets for iPhone 6. Those reports remain to be confirmed.
In 2010, Apple also had a run-in with tech-news site Gizmodo, which had obtained a prototype iPhone 4 unit and used it to generate millions of page views with closeup images of the design, including its innards.
The technology giant used search warrants and other legal tools to stop the spread of leaks and even punished the site by retracting its accreditation (i.e. for special events).
However, despite the Apple CEO promising to double down on secrecy, the leaks have continued to be as abundant as ever as far as the iPhone is concerned. One product that has so far been untainted by hardware leaks is the Apple Watch.
