Apple told a federal judge Monday that OpenAI is destroying evidence in a Northern District of California trade-secrets case, and that a former iPhone engineer used a confidential Apple circuit schematic in his new job. [1] OpenAI, the same day, told the same court the lawsuit is a mess of Apple's own making, pointing to roughly 400 Apple alumni it has hired and to Apple's own iCloud and offboarding practices. [2] Two briefs, one Monday, one fight about who gets to build the next consumer device.
The Apple filing, in support of expedited discovery, names OpenAI, hardware chief Tang Yew Tan, former Apple engineer Chang Liu, and io Products. [1] Apple wants early document production, forensic imaging of devices and accounts, and depositions. [1] It says Liu "not only downloaded a confidential Apple circuit schematic but also used it in his work" at OpenAI. [1] OpenAI has sought to dismiss the suit and has opposed a fast-track schedule and a preliminary injunction that would bar the defendants from using or disclosing alleged Apple secrets while the case proceeds. [1]
The underlying complaint is from July. Apple sued after OpenAI hired hundreds of former Apple employees and acquired Jony Ive's hardware startup io. [1] Liu, an eight-year Apple senior systems electrical engineer, left in January 2026. Apple says he kept an Apple-issued laptop, exploited residual network access and an authentication bug, and downloaded dozens of confidential files — engineering presentations, specs for unreleased products, manufacturing details for main logic boards — while already working for OpenAI. [1] Tan, a 24-year Apple veteran who led iPhone and Watch product design, is now OpenAI's chief hardware officer. Apple says he used internal Apple project names in interviews and encouraged recruits to bring parts, prototypes, and supplier information. [1]
OpenAI has denied the claims, calling the lawsuit careless and "oddly personal," and saying it has no interest in Apple's trade secrets. [1] In Monday's opposition, filed in San Jose, it argued Apple has not shown that confidential information actually left with departing staff. [2] It says Apple encourages employees to use personal iCloud accounts for work documents, blurring personal and company files, and escorts departing staff out immediately, leaving too little time to return devices. [2] Liu said he opened Apple documents only after former colleagues asked him to locate files and answer questions. [2] Tan said he returned prototypes before leaving and kept only non-confidential material, including a departure checklist. [2] California law lets workers move between rivals, OpenAI added, calling the case an attempt to slow a competitor and deter resignations. [2]
A hearing on Apple's expedited-discovery and injunction motion is set for October 1 before Judge Edward Davila. [1] [2] The court could rule sooner. Both companies declined additional comment beyond prior statements. [1]
The docket has been hardening since July. OpenAI answered in public before it answered in court, calling the complaint careless in a blog post that published private emails and messages. [2] It moved to dismiss in August and renewed that request days later. [2] Apple and OpenAI were partners as recently as 2024, when they agreed to put ChatGPT on Apple devices, an arrangement Yellow.com says cooled as the two companies started competing for the same hardware talent. [2] Liu's alleged downloads and Tan's alleged recruiting pitches are the discovery fight. The 400 alumni are the industrial one.
The procedure is real. Destruction allegations, iCloud policies, and offboarding choreography are what a discovery fight is made of. They are not why this case exists. OpenAI's hardware chief spent 24 years inside Apple. About 400 Apple alumni now work at OpenAI. [2] Apple's original complaint treated that hiring spree itself as a method for learning a rival's secrets. [2] OpenAI's Monday brief flipped the same number into a defense: so many people left that Apple's own offboarding, not OpenAI's hiring, explains any lingering access. [2] Yellow.com's account is blunt about the market underneath the motions: both sides are fighting over the engineers who build consumer hardware, in a market where a successful OpenAI device could pull buyers from the iPhone. [2] io, the Jony Ive startup OpenAI bought, is the vehicle. Tan is the executive. Liu is the engineer Apple says walked out with a schematic. The rest is discovery.
A reader who stops at "destroying evidence" gets a litigation wire. A reader who stays for the roster gets the industrial fact. The next gadget war is being litigated as a trade-secrets case because that is the tool Apple still has after the people who knew how to build its boards walked out the door.
-- THEO KAPLAN, San Francisco