Apple sued OpenAI for mishandling trade secrets
Two tech giants, Apple and OpenAI, are locked in a sharp conflict over collaboration in the tech world, Zamin.uz reported.
Apple, the manufacturer of iPhone devices, has filed a lawsuit in the Northern District Court of California against OpenAI, which is advancing in the field of artificial intelligence. The suit alleges that OpenAI misappropriated trade secrets and grossly violated contractual obligations.
At the center of this dispute are serious allegations that former senior Apple employees unlawfully obtained confidential information. According to documents submitted by Apple, OpenAI’s leadership—specifically Tang Tan, who at the time served as director of hardware engineering at the company—directly oversaw the recruitment process.
Tang Tan had a 24-year successful tenure at Apple, rising to the level of vice president for iPhone and Apple Watch design. After joining OpenAI, he is accused of leveraging Apple’s undisclosed projects and their internal code names during the hiring of new employees—projects that had not yet been publicly disclosed.
Court documents state that during his onboarding, Tang Tan requested departing employees to bring internal components of Apple devices to interviews. Furthermore, he allegedly provided former employees with confidential guidance on how to bypass Apple’s internal security systems when leaving the company.
Such actions allegedly created a pathway for Apple’s strategically important intellectual property to flow to a competitor. Additionally, the lawsuit singles out former Apple engineer Chang Liu.
According to the complaint, Liu, upon joining OpenAI, failed to return his assigned company laptop and instead copied confidential technical documents from it. These documents reportedly include highly sensitive materials such as future technologies, engineering roadmaps, and project specifications.
This dispute is particularly notable as it coincides with OpenAI’s entry into developing its first standalone hardware product. Industry analysts suggest that OpenAI plans to create a revolutionary smartphone designed around full AI assistants, potentially replacing traditional apps.
If realized, this could position OpenAI as a direct competitor to Apple’s iPhone. Adding complexity to the situation, OpenAI recently acquired a startup founded by legendary Apple designer Jony Ive for $6.5 billion.
While Ive himself is not named as a defendant, his company is referenced in the court filings, indicating the seriousness of OpenAI’s ambitions in the hardware space.
Apple representatives emphasized that they had sent multiple warning letters on this matter, but received no substantive response from the opposing side.
