Apple has asked a federal judge to issue a preliminary injunction blocking OpenAI and two former Apple employees from accessing or using confidential information the company claims was improperly taken. The order would prevent OpenAI, Chang Liu and Tang Yew Tan from handling, acquiring, using or disclosing any of Apple's trade secrets while the lawsuit moves forward in the US District Court for the Northern District of California.
The stakes are high. Apple argues that if its hardware secrets end up embedded in OpenAI's consumer devices or internal operations, the damage would be irreparable. The company is also demanding the return of any confidential materials the defendants hold and has filed a motion for expedited discovery to dig through documents related to how the defendants accessed Apple's information.
How the Information Left Apple
Chang Liu worked as a senior system electrical engineer at Apple before moving to OpenAI in January. Apple alleges he kept access to internal systems after departing and exploited an authentication vulnerability to download dozens of confidential hardware files. Tang Yew Tan, who served as vice president of product design for the iPhone and Apple Watch, also joined OpenAI as part of the company's push into consumer hardware, particularly after acquiring io Products.
Apple wants depositions from Liu, Tan, an OpenAI employee named Yu Ting Peng and another unnamed former Apple staffer now working at OpenAI. The company is also seeking testimony from OpenAI's corporate representatives and executives at io Products, the hardware startup OpenAI bought to accelerate its consumer device expansion.
OpenAI Pushes Back
OpenAI flatly denies the allegations. In a company statement, the firm said it has no interest in Apple's trade secrets and rejected the injunction request as based on false information. OpenAI claimed that current Apple employees actually reached out to Liu after he left asking for help locating files and information they needed for their work. The company published message excerpts it said backed up its version of events.
The lawsuit itself was filed in July and names OpenAI, io Products, Liu and Tan as defendants, alleging misappropriation of Apple's confidential hardware information to support OpenAI's consumer device strategy.
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