What the Court Fight Just Revealed

• OpenAI says a former employee transferred more than 100 highly confidential files concerning at least one unreleased OpenAI device before returning to Apple.
• The files allegedly included device images, engineering and manufacturing information, supplier data and other internal project material.
• Apple says it found no evidence supporting OpenAI’s allegations, as the two companies now face accusations that sensitive technology moved in both directions.

SAN JOSE, Calif. — The trade-secret war between Apple and OpenAI has taken an unexpected turn.

OpenAI says a former employee who spent roughly six months at the artificial-intelligence company before returning to Apple sent more than 100 confidential files concerning at least one unreleased OpenAI device to personal accounts.

The allegation surfaced in the federal litigation Apple Inc. v. Liu et al., Case No. 5:26-cv-07078-EJD, pending before U.S. District Judge Edward J. Davila in the Northern District of California.

According to OpenAI, the material included detailed images of unreleased hardware along with engineering, manufacturing, supplier and project information. Some of the transfers allegedly occurred on June 2, the employee’s final day at OpenAI.

But the allegation goes further.

OpenAI told the court that the former employee later made a presentation concerning OpenAI’s product plans to senior Apple leadership, including an Apple executive involved with operations in Asia.

OpenAI says it is concerned its confidential product-development information may now be circulating inside Apple at the same time Apple is expanding its own AI-enabled hardware business.

Apple rejects that suggestion. The company says it maintains procedures designed to prevent incoming employees from using confidential material belonging to previous employers and says its investigation has uncovered no evidence supporting OpenAI’s claims.

OpenAI has alleged a transfer of information. It has not yet publicly established that Apple engineers actually used that information to design a competing product.

And that could become one of the central questions if OpenAI brings counterclaims.

The irony is difficult to miss.

Apple started this lawsuit in July accusing former Apple employees Chang Liu and Tang Yew Tan, OpenAI and io Products of misappropriating Apple trade secrets connected to hardware development. OpenAI denied those allegations.

Now OpenAI is effectively telling the court that confidential information may have traveled the other way.

Judge Davila has already authorized parts of Apple’s request for accelerated discovery. In an October 13 order, the court permitted limited expedited discovery, including certain forensic material and depositions connected to Apple’s claims.

That makes OpenAI’s new allegation particularly important. Discovery originally aimed at determining whether Apple information reached OpenAI could now generate evidence about whether OpenAI information moved into Apple.

Legally, however, one allegation does not cancel the other.

If both companies ultimately establish protectable trade secrets and unauthorized acquisition, disclosure or use, there could theoretically be viable claims on both sides. Each company still must identify what information qualifies as a trade secret, establish reasonable efforts to protect it and show how the opposing side improperly acquired, disclosed or used it.

Simply possessing a competitor’s information is not automatically the same thing as proving trade-secret misappropriation by the corporation itself. Who accessed the files, where they went, whether they entered Apple systems, who reviewed them and whether they influenced product development could become critical forensic questions.

OpenAI has indicated that the discovery may support potential counterclaims.

That would fundamentally change the case.

What began as Apple accusing former employees and OpenAI of taking proprietary technology could become a two-way courtroom examination of how confidential AI hardware information moves when engineers cross between two of the most powerful technology companies in the world.

Get Reporting That Goes Beyond the Headline

If you value legal and investigative reporting that looks beyond the press release and examines what court filings actually mean, join the USA Herald newsletter for exclusive coverage of major lawsuits, AI, national security, insurance and developing stories.

Follow USA Herald on X at @RealUSAHerald.