OpenAI says Apple ‘is getting this wrong’ in response to trade secrets lawsuit

OpenAI has published its most detailed response yet to Apple's lawsuit accusing the company of stealing hardware trade secrets, pushing back against several of Apple's claims and arguing that the case is based on false information.



Nearly a month after Apple filed its complaint, OpenAI released a lengthy blog post explaining its side of the dispute, sharing email exchanges and defending former Apple executives who now work at the company.



Apple filed the lawsuit on July 10, alleging that former Apple employees took confidential information to help OpenAI's hardware efforts. Since then, OpenAI has issued a few brief statements denying the allegations, but its latest blog post marks the first time it has responded point by point while also publishing supporting documents and screenshots.



OpenAI strongly criticized Apple's legal approach and claimed the company never properly raised the specific concerns before filing the lawsuit.




"Apple is one of the greatest companies of all time, and built a reputation for obsessing over the smallest details. This careless, aggressive and oddly personal lawsuit sadly doesn't live up to that reputation."




OpenAI disputes Apple's claims and defends former employees



OpenAI also challenged Apple's timeline, saying Apple incorrectly claimed it had contacted the company before filing the lawsuit. According to OpenAI, Apple's lawyers initially emailed the wrong person and later admitted that its General Counsel never had the conversation Apple originally described.



OpenAI added that Apple told the company it was "resolving any issues" before remaining silent for several months and then filing the lawsuit.




"Apple had claimed that they contacted OpenAI in February and that we didn't respond. They now admit that their outside lawyers emailed the wrong person after confusing two Asian last names... We then heard nothing for five months until they sued."




The company also addressed Apple's allegations involving former Apple engineer Chang Liu, arguing that any continued access to Apple systems resulted from Apple's own account management practices after employees left the company.



OpenAI said Apple employees even contacted Liu after his departure and asked him to help locate certain information, adding that Apple later described the issue as "residual access."



Another major part of Apple's lawsuit focuses on former Apple executive Tang Tan, who spent more than two decades leading hardware development before joining OpenAI. The company defended Tan's conduct and said he consistently instructed his team not to use confidential information from previous employers.




"Tang has always been clear with the team that we do not want, and must not use, any confidential information from other companies."




OpenAI concluded its response by saying it would have welcomed discussions with Apple before the lawsuit and remains willing to resolve the dispute. The company also rejected Apple's request for a preliminary injunction, saying it neither possesses nor wants Apple's trade secrets because its focus remains on developing its own products and technologies.



The legal dispute now moves into the next stage as Apple continues pursuing its claims while OpenAI publicly challenges both Apple's timeline and several key allegations contained in the lawsuit.