OpenAI Urges Federal Judge to Throw Out Apple's Trade Secrets Complaint

OpenAI has asked a federal judge to dismiss Apple's lawsuit accusing the AI company of stealing trade secrets, calling the allegations "meritless."

Attorneys for OpenAI contend that the complaint misrepresents routine employee behavior. The motion offers a detailed defense of Chief Hardware Officer Tang Yew Tan. He worked at Apple for 24 years, rising to VP of product design for iPhone and Apple Watch, before departing to co-found io Products alongside former Apple design chief Jony Ive. That firm merged with OpenAI in July 2025. According to the filing, Tan adhered to standard industry recruiting practices while speaking with Apple personnel.

The company also pushed back on allegations involving senior systems engineer Chang Liu, one of two ex-Apple staffers singled out in the suit. Apple alleges Liu exploited an authentication bug to view confidential hardware files across multiple weeks. OpenAI counters that Liu was merely assisting a former colleague in locating material needed for legitimate work and released portions of text messages that it says support this version of events. "Apple should not be permitted to use a baseless and pretextual lawsuit," OpenAI's lawyers wrote.

In its arguments, OpenAI maintains that Apple failed to specify which details qualify as protectable trade secrets. The AI firm added that it has no desire to obtain such material since it is "building something entirely new and different from anything at Apple."

The 31-page document further challenges the foundation of Apple's case. OpenAI asserts that lax internal safeguards at the iPhone maker, such as permitting workers to store work data in personal iCloud accounts and only later scanning those accounts on returned devices, created the residual access Apple now portrays as theft. The filing repeatedly portrays Apple's action as an attempt to mask internal shortcomings, with forms of the word "fail" appearing nearly 50 times.

OpenAI's submission also revisits the initial breakdown in communications between the parties. Apple's complaint stated that OpenAI ignored outreach sent in February and that the companies had spoken about the issue with OpenAI's general counsel. The AI company denies both assertions, blaming the impasse on Apple's external lawyers who mixed up two OpenAI staff members sharing similar surnames and directed the letter to the wrong recipient.

This week's motion comes after Apple filed suit in July. That complaint alleges OpenAI operated a systematic effort to extract confidential product details from prospective and recent hires. The two firms had collaborated for about two years on integrating ChatGPT into Siri, yet ties deteriorated once OpenAI entered the hardware arena, a move hastened by its absorption of Ive's venture. Apple's filing states that more than 400 former Apple employees have since joined OpenAI.

Apple intensified its legal effort this week by requesting a preliminary injunction barring OpenAI from using any alleged trade secrets during litigation, plus expedited discovery targeting Liu, Tan, OpenAI and its foundation, and io. The iPhone maker reported that its probe has identified 11 additional ex-employees who may have served as witnesses or played other roles, beyond Liu, Tan, and previously named OpenAI employee Yu-Ting Peng.

According to Apple, one former staffer met with Liu and Peng ahead of Peng's OpenAI interview to discuss proprietary details on unreleased products. Another allegedly captured screenshots of confidential files tied to an unreleased Apple product prior to their own interview. Apple further claimed that, following the original complaint, multiple ex-staffers now at OpenAI contacted the company about returning devices they had retained.

OpenAI labeled the injunction request "based on false information and completely unnecessary" in a public blog post addressing Apple's latest move. OpenAI has a court ordered deadline of August 17.