Update, October 21: In a statement to The Verge, Prosser said he is in “active communication” with Apple. See the full quote below.
The US District Court for the Northern District of California has accepted Apple’s request to enter default against Jon Prosser in the lawsuit it filed last July. Here’s what that means.
A quick recap
Earlier this year, YouTuber Jon Prosser published a couple of videos showcasing multiple aspects of what turned out to be the Liquid Design redesign introduced in iOS 26.
Last July, Apple filed a lawsuit against Prosser, as well as second defendant called Michael Ramacciotti, accusing them of misappropriating trade secrets and violating the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act over the leak.
Apple claims that Ramacciotti broke into the Development iPhone of an ex-employee called Ethan Lipnik. Here’s Apple’s description of the timeline of the events:
According to Mr. Ramacciotti’s message, while staying at Mr. Lipnik’s home, Mr. Ramacciotti used location tracking to determine when Mr. Lipnik would be gone for an extended period, acquired his passcode, and broke into his Development iPhone, which Mr. Lipnik had failed to properly secure according to Apple’s policies. As he detailed in the audio message, Mr. Ramacciotti made a video call to Mr. Prosser and “showed iOS” on the Development iPhone. He demonstrated several features and applications, disclosing details of the unreleased iOS 19 operating system.
(…)
According to Mr. Ramacciotti, Mr. Prosser proposed the scheme and promised to”find out a way for [Mr. Ramacciotti] to get payment” if Mr. Ramacciotti would provide access to Mr. Lipnik’s Development iPhone so Mr. Prosser could steal and profit from Apple’s confidential information. Mr. Ramacciotti acknowledged that Mr. Prosser recorded the video call with screen capture tools. Mr. Prosser took videos of the trade secrets on the Development iPhone, kept them on his own device, and disseminated those recordings to others. He shared the recordings with at least one person who reported back to Mr. Lipnik that he recognized Mr. Lipnik’s apartment in the recording. Ultimately, Mr. Prosser profited off Apple’s trade secrets by, at least, sharing them in multiple videos on his business’s YouTube channel, from which he generates ad revenue.
In its complaint, Apple requests a jury trial and seeks injunctive relief, damages, and punitive damages in unspecified amounts, along with an order barring Prosser from disclosing Apple’s confidential material in the future.
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