iPad Thefts

Two workers at Foxconn's massive electronics factory in southern China have been fined and sent to prison for stealing and selling designs for Apple's popular iPad2 to a third man, a broker who passed the designs to a company that used them to make Apple knock-offs.

All three men were fined and sentenced to prison in the thievery ring. Chinese media reported that a court in Guangzhou had convicted two factory employees of stealing the designs from Foxconn and selling them to an agent who sold the designs to Maita electronics. The Guangzhou Daily newspaper said the agent paid roughly $32,500 for the designs. Knock-off iPads and iPad2s have both been available on the street in China before the real thing entered the market.