Jon Prosser responds to Apple lawsuit by blaming the other guy | The Verge
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Jon Prosser responds to Apple lawsuit by blaming the other guy
Prosser admitted to seeing unreleased i OS features in a Face Time call and recording it.
Prosser admitted to seeing unreleased i OS features in a Face Time call and recording it.
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You Tuber Jon Prosser has finally filed a formal response to Apple’s lawsuit made against him and another defendant over allegedly stealing i OS secrets. In his response, Prosser denied that he “planned or participated in any conspiracy or coordinated scheme” for the “purpose of injuring Apple.” However, Prosser admitted to recording a Face Time call showing unreleased i OS software and sharing revenue from his You Tube videos about the leaks with the person who showed him the information. Prosser also argued that the other defendant “is completely responsible” for the alleged disclosure of trade secrets.
Last July, Apple claimed in its lawsuit that Prosser and Michael Ramacciotti had a “coordinated scheme to break into an Apple development i Phone, steal Apple’s trade secrets, and profit from the theft.” Ramacciotti, Apple alleged, showed Prosser information about i OS from a development i Phone belonging to an Apple employee, Ethan Lipnik, in a Face Time call. Over the course of a few months in 2025, Prosser hosted three videos on his Front Page Tech You Tube channel detailing an unannounced i OS 19 with elements resembling the Liquid Glass interface that Apple would go on to demonstrate at WWDC as part of its renamed i OS 26 operating system.
I’ve pulled out some notable pieces from Prosser’s response.
Apple claimed that after Prosser learned Ramacciotti “needed money” and that Lipnik worked at Apple, Prosser and Ramacciotti “jointly planned” to access the information in Lipnik’s i Phone. Prosser denied that he “jointly planned” to access the information or that he was aware of “Ramacciotti’s financial situation.” Prosser’s filing also said that he was “unaware of who Ethan Lipnik was” and was “unaware of how and when Ramacciotti gathered the information.”
Prosser admitted to participating in a Face Time call with Ramacciotti where he was shown “certain i OS features on the Development i Phone.” Prosser also admitted that Ramacciotti “demonstrated several features and applications, which disclosed details of the unreleased i OS 19 operating system, “but has not knowledge if i OS 19 was in fact ‘unreleased,’” according to an awkwardly written sentence in the filing.
Apple alleged that, according to Ramacciotti’s voice message, Ramacciotti “used location tracking” to know when Lipnik would be gone, “acquired” Lipnik’s passcode, and broke into the phone. Prosser denies “any knowledge of location tracking,” that the i Phone was Lipnik’s phone, and how Ramacciotti got into it.
Prosser admitted to recording the Face Time call, taking screen captures of the call, and to “sharing recordings and renderings afterwards.”
Prosser denies “enlisting or bribing” Ramacciotti in advance of the Face Time call. However, he admitted to sharing “a portion of the You Tube advertising revenue” with Ramacciotti after publication of the videos “in order to retain exclusive communication with Ramacciotti.” Prosser also said he “disconnected communication” with Ramacciotti once he “learned how Ramacciotti acquired the proprietary information.”
Prosser admitted that the information he saw was “unreleased software” and to reporting on information given to him “as any news organization would report on exclusives.”
Prosser admitted to showing “at least a portion of the recording” to other people, but “denies that he is in possession of any further confidential information in this case that has not already been disclosed to Apple.”
As part of a list of affirmative defenses, Prosser’s filing states that “Ramacciotti’s act of displaying the features was not induced by Prosser” and that “Ramacciotti is completely responsible for the disclosure of Apple’s alleged trade secrets, if any.”
It also states that Ramacciotti is “responsible for all harm caused to Prosser and should indemnify him for all harm caused.”
Prosser is also requesting a jury trial “on all issues so triable by a jury.”
Apple didn’t immediately reply to a request for comment. When asked about the case earlier this year, Apple spokesperson Jacqueline Roy told The Verge that “We don’t comment on active litigation.”
Months after Apple filed the lawsuit, a clerk entered a default against Prosser after he hadn’t formally responded to the complaint, meaning that the case could go on without him. But Prosser said in an April filing that he would finally be retaining counsel. In June, Prosser agreed to sit for a deposition, and soon after, Prosser and Apple asked the judge in the case to set aside the entry of default. He did, and gave Prosser 10 days to respond to Apple’s complaint.
Below is Prosser’s full response, if you’d like to read it for yourself.
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