According to the Wall Street Journal, a Chinese court sentenced three people to prison for stealing information relating to Apple's iPad 2, six months before its release.

The case involved the head of an electronics-accessory manufacturer paying an employee, at the time, of Apple supplier Foxconn (aka Hon Hai) for information on the device in order to produce accessories. According to the WSJ:

"[The court] said that Xiao Chengsong, general manager of Shenzhen MacTop Electronics Co., had offered 20,000 yuan, or about $3,000, plus discounts on MacTop products to a former Hon Hai employee named Hou Pengna, for information about the iPad 2. The court said Ms. Hou then paid Lin Kecheng, a Hon Hai research-and-development employee, to get digital images of the device's back cover from last September, six months before the iPad 2 was publicly announced."

All three received prison sentences, between 12 and 18 months in length, and were required to pay fines.

Foxconn has been in the news before, for alleged abuses of its employees.