Apple told a developer that his software was insecure and cannot be put in its App store. Then Jobs' Mob copied it and pretended it sprang from the genius of Apple. In this case, it nicked the app from a young developer who was unlikely to be able to afford a lawyer.

Greg Hughes, who is in his  third year at the University of Birmingham, penned an application called "Wi-Fi Sync" which can sync iTunes libraries with iPhones over a wireless wireless network rather than via a USB connector. He sent it into Apple's App Store in May 2010 but was told that it was rejected for  "security concerns" and for doing things that Steve Jobs' says should not be done.

Hughes flogged the app on the Cydia store, a rival to the App Store which sells software for "jailbroken" iPhones. On sale for £6.07, has become one of Cydia's top products, selling more than 50,000 copies since its release.

But a year after saying no to the app,  Apple released software  with the same functions, a near-identical logo and the same name. Hughes told the Telegraph that he was completely shocked when Steve Jobs proudly showed off the inbuilt feature also called Wi-Fi Sync, which he wrote.

Before his app was rejected, Hughes had a call from an App Store representative called Steve Rea, who said the iPhone engineering team had looked at it and were quite impressed. They told him to send in his CV after he graduated.

We should point out that Apple tends to be quite aggressive when it thinks that people have been stealing its designs. It has hamstrung its long running partnership with Samsung because the outfit used Android technology which Jobs' Mob believes it invented.

Hughes is apparently doing his exams at the moment, but said he is talking to his lawyers.