It appears as if Apple is preparing for a big legal fight to get a secret product back from a company that had somehow come into possession of the product. in a very simple looking letter, Bruce Sewell, Senior Vice President and general counsel of Apple Inc has written to Brian Lamb, the editorial director of GIZMODO simply stating that the company is in possession of a device that belongs to Apple and that they desire to come and pick the device up. it is apparently a prototype for a new product that Apple plans to launch which is why the letter was not specific as to the nature of the product. it appears that the phone could be very valuable in the hands of a competitor of Apple because it would tell their competitors what Apple was planning next.

Naturally, there are a number of products which are always subject to commercial confidence in corporate trade secrets can be incredibly valuable if they relate to a particular type of technology that the corporation uses to produce its products or if the technology is patented, there are copyright issues or in some cases even the image to a trademark might be something which remains a commercial secret before its release. In this case it appears as if Apple is preparing to fight a legal case if the phone is not returned to them simply on the grounds of theft.

However, obviously if the technology is advanced enough and original that it may one day be patented by the company and protected by intellectual property law. There are serious consequences for breaching intellectual property protections over patents, trademarks and copyright. Apple has a long track record of enforcing its intellectual property rights with a great degree of vigour. Intellectual property law is generally divided into three categories, the first is patents, the second is trade marks, the third is copyright.