Apple has filed a federal lawsuit towards OpenAI alleging a scientific marketing campaign to steal confidential {hardware} commerce secrets and techniques — and the grievance names a number of the most senior figures in OpenAI’s nascent system enterprise. Filed within the U.S. District Courtroom for the Northern District of California, the Apple commerce secrets and techniques lawsuit accuses OpenAI of orchestrating what Apple calls a coordinated, multi-level effort to extract a long time’ price of proprietary information about unreleased merchandise, manufacturing processes, and provide chain improvements.
Key takeaways
- Apple sued OpenAI in federal court docket in Northern California on July 10, 2026, alleging systematic theft of {hardware} commerce secrets and techniques.
- The lawsuit names OpenAI’s Chief {Hardware} Officer Tang Tan, former Apple engineer Chang Liu, and IO Merchandise — Jony Ive’s startup acquired by OpenAI for $6.4–6.5 billion in 2025.
- Chang Liu allegedly downloaded confidential Apple recordsdata after leaving the corporate and suggested a colleague on how one can evade Apple’s safety staff.
- Tang Tan is accused of directing job candidates to carry Apple {hardware} parts to interviews and soliciting confidential data throughout the recruiting course of.
- Apple contacted OpenAI in February about its considerations; OpenAI by no means responded, based on the grievance.
Apple Recordsdata Lawsuit Towards OpenAI for Commerce Secret Theft
The timing is hanging. As not too long ago as 2024, Apple and OpenAI have been companions — ChatGPT was built-in into Apple’s working system in a broadly publicized deal, and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman visited Apple’s headquarters for the announcement alongside Tim Prepare dinner. Now Apple is in federal court docket accusing OpenAI of operating what the grievance describes as a scheme “at each degree, from members of its Technical Employees to its Chief {Hardware} Officer.”
The breakdown in relations accelerated after OpenAI moved aggressively into {hardware}. In 2025, OpenAI acquired IO Merchandise — the startup based by legendary Apple designer Jony Ive — in a deal valued at roughly $6.4 to $6.5 billion. That acquisition signaled OpenAI’s intent to construct shopper gadgets, nearly actually in direct competitors with the iPhone. Apple’s up to date Siri assistant, coming this fall, is now primarily based on Google’s Gemini AI fashions fairly than OpenAI know-how — a visual signal of how a lot the connection has deteriorated.
Allegations of Systematic Theft by Former Workers
Apple’s grievance doesn’t body this as remoted misconduct. The submitting describes a deliberate organizational technique, with greater than 400 former Apple staff now working at OpenAI. Apple’s core allegation is that OpenAI didn’t simply passively profit from hiring Apple expertise — it actively directed these staff, and candidates nonetheless at Apple, to reap confidential data.
“This can be a systematic effort to amass, retain, and use Apple’s commerce secrets and techniques to assist OpenAI attempt to replicate the key applied sciences, enterprise processes, and provide chain improvements that took Apple a long time to construct in its shopper {hardware} enterprise,” Apple states within the submitting.
Apple additionally says OpenAI coached departing Apple staff on how one can evade the corporate’s safety procedures when leaving — and allegedly suggested them to let OpenAI know if Apple personnel “ask you to signal something.”
Key Defendants Named within the Grievance
Past OpenAI and IO Merchandise, the lawsuit targets two people straight. Tang Tan, OpenAI’s Chief {Hardware} Officer, spent 24 years at Apple, most not too long ago as VP of product design for the iPhone and Apple Watch. Chang Liu, a former Apple senior methods electrical engineer who joined OpenAI in January 2026, can be named as a defendant.
Particulars of the Alleged Misconduct by OpenAI Workers
The specifics outlined within the grievance are detailed — and damaging if confirmed true.
Chang Liu’s Unauthorized Entry and Steerage on Evading Safety
Based on the submitting, Chang Liu accessed Apple’s methods and downloaded recordsdata after his employment had already ended — together with what Apple describes as “dozens of Apple’s confidential hardware-related recordsdata,” overlaying unreleased merchandise, engineering displays, technical specs, and proprietary mission knowledge. Apple additionally alleges Liu did not return an Apple-issued laptop computer after leaving the corporate, and used that system to entry confidential technical paperwork.
Extra particularly, Liu is accused of instructing a former Apple colleague on how one can copy confidential recordsdata and “keep away from hassle” with Apple’s safety staff earlier than she joined OpenAI. Based on the grievance, Liu suggested her that they need to talk over Line Messenger to keep away from detection. Apple states within the submitting that “his accessed, copied, and directed the disclosure of Apple Confidential Data after his employment ended, in direct violation of his post-termination obligations.”
Tang Tan’s Function in Soliciting Confidential Data
Apple’s allegations towards Tang Tan are broader in scope and arguably extra important given his seniority. The grievance accuses Tan of utilizing Apple’s confidential mission code names throughout OpenAI’s recruiting course of — a element that implies deep familiarity with proprietary inside vocabulary. He’s additionally accused of directing job candidates nonetheless employed at Apple to carry “precise elements” to their interviews for what the grievance describes as “present and inform” periods, throughout which Tan and his staff may extract additional confidential data.
Past {hardware}, Tan allegedly emailed himself details about Apple suppliers earlier than leaving the corporate, and requested interviewees for particulars about Apple’s unannounced merchandise, part and vendor choice processes, and confidential mission specifics.
The breadth of those alleged actions — from provider intelligence to prototype show-and-tell — suggests Apple views this not as opportunistic misconduct however as a structured intelligence-gathering operation embedded in OpenAI’s hiring pipeline.
Apple’s Response and Authorized Measures to Shield Its Mental Property
Apple is in search of damages, injunctions, and a court docket order requiring OpenAI to cease utilizing its commerce secrets and techniques and return any confidential supplies. The corporate can be asking the court docket to protect all proof associated to the case — an vital step given Apple’s acknowledgment within the submitting that it lacks full visibility into what has occurred internally at OpenAI.
“That is the tip of the iceberg,” Apple’s grievance states. “Apple lacks visibility into what’s been occurring behind closed doorways at OpenAI, the place such misconduct is normalized and exemplified by management.”
Apple’s Defensive Assertion and Authorized Actions
An Apple spokesperson mentioned: “Not too long ago, important proof has emerged suggesting people employed by OpenAI wrongfully took Apple’s secret and confidential data concerning our unreleased applied sciences, processes, and merchandise. We’ll at all times defend our groups’ arduous work and improvements, and we’re taking all acceptable steps to take action.”
Apple says it despatched a letter to OpenAI in February elevating these considerations and requesting details about what OpenAI was doing to research the issue. Based on the grievance, OpenAI by no means responded.
OpenAI’s Denial and Rebuttal
OpenAI spokesperson Drew Pusateri supplied a short however agency response: “Now we have no real interest in different corporations’ commerce secrets and techniques. We stay centered on constructing progressive know-how that empowers individuals in all places.”
The corporate has not commented on the particular allegations towards Tan and Liu, nor on the February letter Apple says went unanswered.
What This Means for OpenAI’s {Hardware} Ambitions
The lawsuit lands at a very consequential second for OpenAI. The corporate’s first {hardware} product is anticipated to launch subsequent yr, and trade hypothesis — together with analyst Ming-Chi Kuo’s suggestion in April that the system may very well be an AI-native smartphone — positions it as a possible direct competitor to the iPhone.
Apple’s grievance anticipates this and goes straight for the legitimacy of that product. “OpenAI’s nascent {hardware} enterprise now rests on the shakiest of foundations,” the submitting states, “rotten to its core by its unlawful reliance on misappropriated commerce secrets and techniques.” It’s an aggressive framing, designed not only for the courtroom however to forged doubt on whether or not OpenAI can credibly carry a {hardware} product to market by itself phrases.
The lawsuit additionally arrives as OpenAI is reportedly getting ready for what may very well be a historic IPO. Commerce secret litigation of this scale — involving essentially the most priceless firm on the planet, on the coronary heart of OpenAI’s core new progress technique — is the sort of authorized cloud that may complicate investor urge for food and due diligence considerably. It follows OpenAI’s latest win in federal court docket towards Elon Musk, that means the corporate enters this new authorized battle with some courtroom momentum, but additionally with its authorized and reputational bandwidth already stretched.
The authorized discovery course of can be central to what occurs subsequent. Apple acknowledges within the grievance that its investigation is ongoing and that it at the moment lacks visibility into the total scope of the alleged misconduct. As discovery proceeds, the precise depth of alleged entry to Apple’s manufacturing processes, provider relationships, and {hardware} designs will come into sharper focus — and with it, the actual query of whether or not OpenAI’s {hardware} plans have been constructed on borrowed foundations or not.
FAQ
What are the primary allegations Apple makes towards OpenAI within the lawsuit?
Apple alleges that OpenAI staff, together with former Apple employees, stole confidential {hardware} commerce secrets and techniques to advance OpenAI’s {hardware} improvement. The grievance describes a scientific effort throughout a number of ranges of OpenAI’s group to amass, retain, and use Apple’s proprietary applied sciences, manufacturing processes, and provide chain improvements.
Who’re the important thing people named within the lawsuit?
Tang Tan, OpenAI’s Chief {Hardware} Officer and former Apple VP of product design who spent 24 years at Apple, and Chang Liu, a former Apple senior methods electrical engineer who joined OpenAI in January 2026, are each named as defendants, together with IO Merchandise — the Jony Ive-founded startup acquired by OpenAI in 2025.
How has Apple responded publicly to those allegations?
Apple acknowledged it’s taking all acceptable steps to guard its mental property and improvements, describing the scenario as involving “important proof” of wrongful theft of secret and confidential details about unreleased applied sciences, processes, and merchandise.
What’s OpenAI’s response to Apple’s claims?
OpenAI mentioned by way of spokesperson Drew Pusateri that it has no real interest in different corporations’ commerce secrets and techniques and stays centered on constructing progressive know-how that empowers individuals in all places. OpenAI has not addressed the particular allegations intimately.
Article produced with the help of synthetic intelligence and reviewed by the editorial staff.