Apple filed a request with a U.S. court on Monday local time for a preliminary injunction to prohibit two former employees and OpenAI from obtaining, using, or disclosing confidential information allegedly belonging to Apple, while advancing its trade secret infringement lawsuit. In documents submitted to the court, Apple warned: "If the court does not issue a preliminary injunction, Apple will suffer irreparable harm."
The dispute originated from Apple's lawsuit last month against OpenAI and two former employees who have since joined OpenAI. Apple accused them of stealing trade secrets to help OpenAI advance its consumer hardware business. Among the two former employees involved, Liu Chang was a senior systems electrical engineer at Apple, and Tang Tan served as vice president of product design for the iPhone and Apple Watch—both key figures in Apple's core hardware team.
Accelerated Discovery + Widespread Subpoenas, Apple is Launching a Blitzkrieg
To quickly secure evidence, Apple simultaneously filed a motion to expedite the discovery process, requesting the defendants to provide documents related to alleged access to Apple's proprietary information. Apple also requested the court to schedule pretrial depositions of Liu Chang and Tang Tan, and asked Peng Yuting, an OpenAI employee, and another unidentified former Apple employee now working at OpenAI to testify. Additionally, corporate representatives from OpenAI and its commercial hardware division, io Products—also named as defendants in this case—were also required to be questioned.
OpenAI quickly responded late Monday in a blog post, calling Apple's injunction request "based on incorrect information and entirely unnecessary," and stating, "we do not and have no desire to possess any of Apple's trade secrets." This lawsuit comes at a time when OpenAI has just successfully repelled a legal challenge from Elon Musk's xAI, increasing the pressure of fighting on two fronts.
The implications of this lawsuit go beyond trade secrets themselves. Analysts believe that OpenAI is developing a smartphone or other consumer hardware products, which could potentially no longer rely on traditional applications or operating systems. If successful, consumers' attention might shift away from Apple's best-selling iPhone—something Apple certainly will not allow to grow unchecked under its nose.
