Yesterday, a Chinese court convicted and sentenced three people with leaking Apple trade secrets. The three individuals will face prison time for revealing leaked iPad 2 case designs. This might be related to earlier smilar charges facing some Foxconn employees.
Reports indicate that Xiao Chengsong, general manager of Shenzhen MacTop Electronics Co, had offered the equivalent of $3000 USD, and discounts of products, to a former Hon Hai employee (Hou Pengna) as payment for information about the iPad 2.
The court report indicates that Ms. Hou then proceeded to pay Lin Kecheng – a Hon Hai R&D employee, to produce digital images of the iPad 2’s back cover from last September – a full 6 months before the iPad 2 was announced publicly.
The individuas charged will serve sentences of up to 18 months in prison with fines ranging from $4,500 to $23,000.
