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Hyderabad: Apple has withdrawn its lawsuit against its ex-employee, Andrew Aude. The ios engineer was suspected of leaking internal information to some reporters, who published an article about a Journal app that had not launched. He is also said to be a source behind leaked information concerning Apple’s work on spatial computing products (Vision Pro).
In March 2024, the company prosecuted the engineer on the grounds that Aude disclosed sensitive information about Apple that he had obtained from journalists in regard to multiple policies and products from Apple, including the Vision Pro. Nevertheless, the case has been adjudicated based on settlement terms entered between Apple and Aude as reported in court on February 6, 2025, the case has been dismissed.
After the hearing, he went on X (previously Twitter) and expressed his apologies, describing his actions as a “deeply profound and costly blunder.” He also accepted the leak to be detrimental towards his career as a software engineer and destroyed the professional network he had painstakingly developed over the years. He uploads on X:
I worked for almost eight years as a software engineer with Apple. As my work at Apple progressed, I was exposed to internal Apple confidential information such as unreleased products and features. Instead of keeping these secrets as I was supposed to, I went ahead and shared them with journalists covering the company where I worked.
At that moment, I did not understand it, but that was a deeply profound and costly blunder. So many of the professional networks that I spent years creating were utterly destroyed. My otherwise healthy career as a software engineer came to a standstill, and if I do try to rebuild it, I imagine it will be extremely challenging.
The blunders will not go unpunished, rest assured. I wholeheartedly apologize to my former colleagues that not only needlessly put in extensive efforts within numerous Apple projects, but work behind the curtains to ensure that it all remains confidential. They certainly deserved so much more.
A trademark of Apple’s is to defend its trade secrets aggressively and take legal action on fintech leaks. Traditionally, this technology giant based in Cupertino has sued employees, supply chain staff, and bloggers that revealed confidential products and internal policies.
