Apple sued OpenAI on Monday, claiming two former employees accessed or sought the company's trade secrets and asking a US court for a preliminary injunction.
OpenAI denies the allegations, saying it does not possess or want Apple's confidential information and accusing Apple of filing a "careless, aggressive and oddly personal" lawsuit after waiting five months to sue and having initially said issues were being resolved.
What happened
Apple sued OpenAI on Monday, alleging that two former Apple employees—Chang Liu and Tang Tan—accessed or sought Apple's trade secrets after leaving the company. Apple is seeking a preliminary injunction to prevent the employees and OpenAI from accessing, using, or disclosing the secrets, and has also asked the court to expedite discovery and order OpenAI staff to sit for depositions.
Why it matters
OpenAI denies the core allegation, stating it does not have and does not want Apple's trade secrets. The company says Apple employees themselves asked Liu to help locate information and that Apple waited five months after resolving issues to file suit—suggesting Apple may have weak grounds for the injunction. For OpenAI, an adverse ruling could restrict hiring from competitors and set a precedent for trade secret enforcement against AI companies.
What to watch
The court's decision on Apple's request for a preliminary injunction and expedited discovery. Apple also named Tan, OpenAI's chief hardware officer, in the suit, signaling potential tension between the two companies over personnel and proprietary knowledge as both develop hardware products.
On Monday, Apple filed a lawsuit against OpenAI alleging that two former employees—Chang Liu and Tang Tan—accessed or sought out proprietary information after leaving Apple. Liu, who had worked on Apple's "most sensitive product development programs," departed the company in January; Apple claims he accessed trade secrets after his departure. Tang Tan, now OpenAI's chief hardware officer, was accused of seeking proprietary information when interviewing Apple's employees. In its filings, Apple requested a preliminary injunction to prevent the former employees and OpenAI from accessing, using, or disclosing the trade secrets. The company also moved for expedited discovery and sought to compel depositions from several OpenAI employees, including Liu and Tan.
OpenAI responded with a vigorous denial, stating that it does not possess and does not want any of Apple's trade secrets. Critically, the AI company claimed that Apple's own employees had contacted Liu and "asked for his help to locate this information"—a fact Apple "only now admits" in the lawsuit. OpenAI also noted that Apple had previously told the company it was "resolving any issues," after which OpenAI heard nothing for five months until the suit was filed. The company framed Apple's legal action as baseless, writing that the preliminary injunction request was "both based on false information and completely unnecessary."
In a pointed statement, OpenAI called the lawsuit "careless, aggressive and oddly personal," contrasting it unfavorably with Apple's historical reputation for meticulous attention to detail. OpenAI wrote: "Apple is one of the greatest companies of all time, and built a reputation for obsessing over the smallest details. This careless, aggressive and oddly personal lawsuit sadly doesn't live up to that reputation." Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment, leaving the next move to the court system as it considers Apple's requests for an injunction and expedited discovery.
Apple's lawsuit centers on the potential misuse of trade secrets by two former employees now at OpenAI—a concern that has grown more pressing as tech giants compete for talent in AI and hardware development. OpenAI's defense hinges on two points: first, that Apple's own employees sought out Liu to help locate information, which Apple "only now admits"; and second, that Apple's five-month silence between claiming issues were resolved and filing suit suggests weak confidence in its allegations. OpenAI's characterization of the lawsuit as "careless, aggressive and oddly personal" appears designed to undercut Apple's credibility by contrasting the suit with Apple's reputation for precision and care—a rhetorical move that aims to frame the litigation as overreach rather than legitimate protection of confidential information. The court's handling of Apple's preliminary injunction request will signal how aggressively US law will enforce trade secret claims against high-profile tech hires in the AI sector.
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