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Short answer: Jon Prosser’s lawyers are arguing that Apple cannot keep treating the items it has identified as trade secrets, at least not all of them. Their reasons are that some of the material may have been public before Apple’s claim, and that the public release of iOS 26 and macOS 26 may have ended whatever secrecy remained. This is a contention made by one side in an active lawsuit. No court has ruled on it.
What the lawsuit is about
Apple sued Jon Prosser and Michael Ramacciotti in federal court in July 2025. The case is Apple Inc. v. Ramacciotti et al., No. 3:2025cv06043, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. The complaint was filed on July 17, 2025.
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Apple alleges that Ramacciotti accessed the development iPhone of an Apple engineer, Ethan Lipnik, and showed Prosser details of unreleased iOS over FaceTime. These are Apple’s allegations. They have not been tested or found true by a court.
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What Prosser’s lawyers are arguing
In an October 2026 case update, as reported by AppleInsider, Prosser’s lawyers said he had difficulty working out the status of the items Apple had disclosed. Their filing raises three separate questions:
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- Whether the items are still trade secrets. Their argument is that the release of later software may have removed any secrecy the material had.
- Whether the items were ever trade secrets. The argument is that third parties had already publicly disclosed some of the material, so it was never secret in the first place.
- Whether the items lost trade-secret status when iOS and macOS 26 became public.
The filing, as quoted by AppleInsider, reads:
“Prosser just received Apple’s Trade Secret disclosure and it is difficult to discern if some of the items are still trade secrets, if they were ever trade secrets in view of public disclosures by third parties, and/or if they are not trade secrets due to the release of iOS 19/26 and [macOS] 26…”
The quoted text says “iOS 19/26,” not “iOS 26.” The reporting does not explain the reference, so treat it as the filing’s wording rather than a precise version identifier. The article also does not name the lawyer who wrote the sentence, so it should be attributed to the filing.
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Why the release date does not settle the question
The argument mixes two timelines, and they should be kept apart. The alleged access and disclosure happened before public release, when Apple says the software was still confidential. The public availability of iOS 26 and macOS 26 came later. Prosser’s lawyers say the later release bears on whether the material is still protected.
The reporting does not establish that information was or was not protected at the earlier time just because the software was released afterward. Whether a given detail was secret when it was allegedly shown to Prosser is a separate question from whether it remains secret now.
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Where the case stands
According to AppleInsider, Apple is still waiting for documents from Prosser, including financial details and communications with specific third parties. Prosser reportedly says he cooperated with Apple’s informal discovery requests.
Ramacciotti’s lawyers also say he cooperated. They have asked for a hearing to discuss what further discovery Apple wants. The report does not say when a ruling on that request would come or what it would decide.
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If no hearing is granted, the parties’ next status update is due December 2, 2026, according to AppleInsider. That date is a scheduled step reported in the article, and it may change.
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| Point | Who says it | Current status |
|---|---|---|
| Ramacciotti accessed an engineer’s development iPhone and showed Prosser unreleased iOS details | Apple, in its complaint | Allegation only; not found by a court |
| Some of the items may not be trade secrets, or may never have been | Prosser’s lawyers, in the October 2026 filing | Argument only; no ruling on the merits |
| Apple is still seeking documents from Prosser | Reported by AppleInsider | Ongoing discovery |
| Ramacciotti’s request for a hearing | Ramacciotti’s lawyers, as reported | Pending; timing unclear |
Two things follow from this. The public release of iOS 26 or macOS 26 does not, by itself, show that Apple has lost the case or that Prosser is liable. And the arguments about secrecy are only a portion of what Apple must still prove.
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Readers following the case should watch for the next status update, any ruling on Ramacciotti’s hearing request, and any filing that responds to the trade-secret argument directly.
The reporting reviewed for this article is AppleInsider’s coverage of the October 2026 case update. The underlying filing was not independently checked, so the exact wording and context may be incomplete.
Jon Prosser is a former leaker who published information about Apple products. Apple’s lawsuit concerns alleged access to unreleased software, not the publication itself.
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