OpenAI told a federal judge Monday that Apple's trade secret lawsuit is a mess of the iPhone maker's own making, pointing to roughly 400 Apple alumni it has hired.
Key Points:
- OpenAI denied stealing Apple trade secrets in a filing late Monday in U.S. District Court in San Jose, California.
- The company blamed Apple's iCloud policies and its rushed offboarding for any lingering access by departing staff.
- Apple used a separate brief the same day to accuse OpenAI of destroying evidence in the case.
OpenAI Filing Rejects Apple Theft Claims
The company, led by chief executive Sam Altman, filed its opposition late Monday in U.S. District Court in San Jose, California. It argued that Apple has not shown that any confidential information actually left the building with departing staff.
Apple sued OpenAI and former employees Tang Tan and Chang Liu in July, accusing them of taking secrets tied to hardware design, manufacturing and supply chain operations.
OpenAI wrote that Apple encourages staff to use personal iCloud accounts for work documents, which blurs the line between personal and company files. It also said Apple escorts departing employees off the premises at once, leaving too little time to return devices or hand back responsibilities.
Liu said in the filing that he opened Apple documents only after former colleagues asked him to locate files and answer work questions. Tan, who spent 24 years at Apple, said he returned prototypes before leaving and kept only non-confidential material, including a departure checklist. California law lets workers move freely between rivals, OpenAI added, calling the case an attempt to slow a competitor and deter resignations.
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Apple Counters With Evidence Destruction Claim
Apple filed a brief of its own the same day, and it sharpened rather than softened the fight. It accused OpenAI of destroying evidence and said Liu downloaded a confidential Apple circuit schematic, then used it in his work at the AI company.
The iPhone maker wants early document production, forensic imaging of devices and accounts, and depositions of key witnesses. Its original complaint framed the hiring spree itself as a strategy to learn a rival's secrets.
Both sides are really fighting over the engineers who build consumer hardware, a market where a successful OpenAI device could pull buyers away from the iPhone.
OpenAI Lawsuit Timeline
The dispute has hardened steadily since Apple filed suit in early July in the Northern District of California. OpenAI answered in public before it answered in court, calling the complaint careless and oddly personal in a blog post that included private emails and messages.
The AI company then moved to dismiss the case in August, and renewed that request days later, asking the court to end it for good. Apple and OpenAI were partners as recently as 2024, when they agreed to bring ChatGPT to Apple devices, an arrangement that cooled as competition intensified. A hearing on Apple's injunction request is scheduled for Oct. 1.
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