Chinese Workers Charged with Leaking iPad 2 Secrets

PCMag.com is reporting that three employees of Apple manufacturing partner Foxconn Electronics were charged in March with leaking the iPad 2's case design to third-party accessory suppliers.

The workers, employed at Foxconn's Shenzen, China plant, were arrested by Chinese authorities on Dec. 26, 2010 and officially charged with violating company trade secret regulations on March 23, DigiTimes reported Thursday, citing a Chinese-language sznews.com report.

Images of iPad 2 cases featuring a rear-facing camera and a thinner profile than the first-generation media tablet from Apple began to surface last December. At the time, Foxconn reported its suspicions that the design had been leaked by its own employees, according to reports.

We will blog what we find out about the legal treatment of these three employees.