Remember when some companies posted images of the iPad 2 design while advertising their cases, a while before the tablet was launched? Well, the iPad 2 design seems to have been leaked by some Foxconn employees, who were now sentenced to prison for stealing information from Apple’s partner, Foxconn.
There are three employees involved in this story and the decision to send them to prison was taken by the Shenzhen Baoan People’s Court. The illegal proceedings started last July, as Xiao Chengsong, the head of an electronics company got in touch with Hou Pengna, a former Foxconn employee and asked him to provide details about the iPad 2 design.
Next up, Hou paid $3,090 to Lin Kecheng, a section chief of Foxconn’s R&D section and got the needed documents. Xiao’s company, MacTop Electronics used the info received from the employees to create protective casings for Apple’s second gen tablet and sold the products online. Xiao received an 18 month sentence and a fine, while Lin got 14 months in prison and a smaller fine. Also, Hou will spend one year behind bars and pay his part of the fine.
