Apple asked a federal judge to keep its trade secrets lawsuit alive Wednesday, saying OpenAI’s motion to dismiss relied “on distortion, speculation, and improper extrinsic evidence.”
Apple’s 32-page opposition brief, filed Wednesday, doubles down on Apple’s original accusations against two former Apple employees now working for OpenAI. It also sets up a key court hearing scheduled for October.
What the Apple OpenAI trade secrets lawsuit is all about
Apple filed the case, Apple Inc. v. Liu, in July in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. The suit names OpenAI’s hardware subsidiary — io Products — along with two individuals: Chang Liu and Tang Yew Tan.
Apple accuses OpenAI of running a scheme that involved pulling confidential product information from former Apple employees who either became job candidates or new hires. Its original complaint also says more than 400 former Apple employees now work at OpenAI.
The filing says Liu exploited a rare authentication bug to get inside Apple’s internal network storage after joining OpenAI. Over the course of several weeks, he allegedly downloaded dozens of confidential engineering files.
One of these files reportedly details how Apple manufactures and tests its main logic boards. The filing says Liu celebrated the discovery in writing, telling a former colleague: “LOL … so funny.”
OpenAI wants court to dismiss Apple’s lawsuit
Apple’s lawsuit accuses Tan of something different. He spent 24 years at Apple before joining OpenAI as chief hardware officer. Apple alleges Tan used internal Apple project code names during job interviews to question candidates about unreleased products.
According to the filing, Tan even asked a current Apple employee to bring parts. These included batteries, system-in-package components, main logic boards and shields that Apple employee worked on.
Earlier this month, OpenAI asked the court to throw out the case. The Sam Altman-led company argued Apple never properly identified a protectable trade secret.
OpenAI added that it has no interest in Apple’s confidential material, since it’s building something entirely different. As for Liu, the ChatGPT maker suggested his downloads could have come from device syncing he didn’t know about. It’s also said Tan kept an offboarding document because he wanted new hires to follow security procedures correctly.
Apple pushes back on OpenAI’s evidence
Apple’s response rejects all that. Wednesday’s filing argues OpenAI wants the court to accept “innocent” explanations that don’t match the specific messages and documents Apple already cited.
Apple notes that OpenAI conceded its own explanation for Tan’s conduct was “equally plausible” next to Apple’s version of events. Under Ninth Circuit precedent, Apple argues that concession alone should keep the case alive. At this stage, competing but equally plausible explanations should favor the side that filed the complaint.
Much of Apple’s filing focuses on process instead of new evidence. Apple says OpenAI is leaning on material like text messages, a website listing Apple’s internal code names, and OpenAI’s own interview guide.
These materials, the company says, are things a judge shouldn’t even consider at this stage. It claims none of this belongs here, since a motion to dismiss is supposed to be judged on the original complaint alone.
Apple further argues that it shouldn’t have to spell out its trade secrets in granular detail this early. Citing a 2025 ruling by the Ninth Circuit, it says doing so in a public filing would publish the very secrets it wants to protect. That type of detail belongs to discovery, not in an opening legal skirmish, the company says.
Judge Edward J. Davila is set to hear the case on October 1, 2026. Until then, both sides seem to be preparing for a longer fight. At stake is what OpenAI’s former Apple hires took with them, and what they may have done with it.
Anurag Chawake is a tech-focused writer specializing in smartphones, apps and consumer technology. His interest in computers began during the Windows 98 era, eventually leading him to explore everything from operating systems to mobile devices and PC hardware. Anurag previously contributed to The Indian Express, covering Apple, Android, gaming and the broader technology landscape.
