Apple has leveled serious accusations against its former employee, Chen Shi, alleging that he stole confidential information related to Apple Watch's health sensing technology and provided it to the Chinese company Oppo. Before resigning, he allegedly held multiple secret meetings and stole 63 confidential documents. Apple considers this a major theft of intellectual property.
Apple Watch: American tech giant Apple has initiated legal action against its former employee, Chen Shi. The accusation is that Shi secretly downloaded 63 confidential documents shortly before leaving the company in June 2025 and passed them on to Chinese smartphone manufacturer Oppo. Apple claims that despite citing family reasons in his resignation, Shi joined Oppo's sensing technology team and misused sensitive information. The company believes this is a serious case of intellectual property theft, demanding strict action in court.
Allegations of Secret Meetings and Data Theft
Apple states that Chen Shi held several one-on-one meetings with the Apple Watch's technical team before leaving the company. The real purpose of these meetings was to gather important information related to research and development.
The complaint also states that just three days before leaving the job, Shi downloaded 63 confidential documents from a secure folder and saved them to a USB drive. To hide the theft, he even searched the internet for phrases like "how to completely wipe a MacBook" and "can anyone see if I have opened a shared file."
Suspicion Also Falls on Oppo
Apple has also implicated Oppo in this matter. The company claims that Chen Shi was constantly encouraged by Oppo to gather confidential information.
According to evidence presented in court, on June 4, 2025, Shi sent a message to Zijing Zeng, Vice President of Oppo's Health Division. In it, he wrote that he was constantly reviewing internal documents and meeting with officials to gather as much information as possible, which he would then share with the Oppo team.
Monitoring Sensitive Technology
Chen Shi worked at Apple as a Sensor System Architect and was part of several advanced health sensing technology-related projects. These included critical information such as ECG sensor technology and related roadmaps, designs, and development documents.
Apple states that the leak of such sensitive information is a direct theft of the company's intellectual property. This is why the company is seeking strict legal action in court on this matter.
Pretext of Resignation and New Role
When leaving the job, Chen Shi cited personal and family reasons in his resignation. However, it later came to light that he was leading Oppo's Sensing Technology team.
Apple alleges that this move was not a normal career change, but rather a plan to misuse confidential information for a direct competitor.
