Apple Goes to War With OpenAI as Legal Drama Takes an Ugly Turn

Apple has escalated its ongoing lawsuit against OpenAI by asking a federal judge for a preliminary injunction. According to Reuters, Apple is aiming to prevent OpenAI and two of its former employees from accessing, using, or disclosing what Apple claims is confidential trade secret information.

Apple originally filed its lawsuit on July 10, alleging that former staff members funneled proprietary hardware designs and trade secrets to OpenAI. The dispute focuses on Chang Liu, a former Apple systems electrical engineer, and Tang Tan, a long-time design executive at Apple who later co-founded a hardware startup that merged with OpenAI.

In its latest court motion, Apple jas requested expedited discovery and has argued that urgent court intervention is necessary. “Apple will be irreparably harmed absent a preliminary injunction,” the tech giant wrote in its court filing.

Apple also expanded the scope of its concerns in the new court papers. Beyond the main defendants, Apple stated it has concerns regarding 11 additional former employees who now work at OpenAI. The company claims candidate interviews at OpenAI involved asking applicants to bring physical Apple prototypes and computer-aided design files for show and tell sessions.

Hours after Apple filed its court motion, OpenAI responded with a detailed public rebuttal titled “Apple is getting this wrong.” Rather than relying solely on standard legal replies, OpenAI published internal text messages and email exchanges to counter Apple’s accusations. In its public post, OpenAI called Apple’s lawsuit “careless, aggressive and oddly personal.”

OpenAI also shared text messages involving Chang Liu. According to OpenAI, the messages show Apple employees asking Liu for help finding technical files after he had already left Apple on January 22. OpenAI argues that Apple failed to manage its own internal file permissions after employees departed, rather than being the victim of a coordinated theft.

A formal hearing on Apple’s request for a preliminary injunction is currently scheduled for October 1, 2026, in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California.