- Immediate injunctive relief to prevent further use or disclosure of Apple’s trade secrets
- Actual damages from lost profits and competitive advantage
- Disgorgement of profits OPPO gained from the alleged theft
- Punitive damages for what Apple calls “willful, fraudulent, malicious” conduct
- Attorney fees under the DTSA’s fee-shifting provision
The DTSA claim is particularly powerful because it allows for federal court seizure orders and provides for double damages in cases of willful misappropriation.
Why This Case Matters Beyond Apple
This lawsuit represents more than just one company’s fight against alleged corporate espionage. It’s a test case for how U.S. courts will handle increasingly sophisticated trade secret theft by foreign competitors, particularly Chinese companies that have built entire business models around reverse-engineering American innovation.
The wearable technology market is projected to reach $231 billion by 2032, with health monitoring features driving much of that growth. Apple Watch dominates this market, controlling roughly 36% of global smartwatch sales. But Chinese competitors like OPPO, Xiaomi, and others have been rapidly gaining ground with devices that often mirror Apple’s design and functionality.
“Trade secret theft by former employees for new employers is always wrong,” Apple states in its complaint. “Here, allowing Dr. Shi’s and the OPPO Defendants’ actions to go unpunished would undermine Apple’s commitment to innovation and its substantial investments in pioneering technologies like Apple Watch.”
