Bloomberg reported on August 4 that Apple has requested a federal judge to immediately stop OpenAI's hardware development plan. In response, OpenAI argued that Apple’s own lawyers even sent the wrong email to the correct person.
On July 10th, Apple filed a major lawsuit in the Northern District of California federal court, accusing OpenAI of orchestrating a months-long plan during the development of its first consumer device, with the aim of stealing confidential information related to Apple’s hardware. The lawsuit targeted former senior system electrical engineer Chang Liu, as well as former vice president for iPhone and Apple Watch product design, Tang Tan—who now leads OpenAI’s hardware team.
On Monday evening, Apple filed a preliminary injunction with the judge, requesting a prohibition on OpenAI and two former Apple employees accessing, using, or sharing the confidential business information that they claim was stolen. The company also warned the court that if an injunction was not granted, it would suffer irreparable damage.
Subsequently, OpenAI responded with a strongly worded blog post, calling the lawsuit 'hasty, aggressive, and characterized by unusual personal motives', and accusing Apple of getting basic facts wrong.
Apple claimed that it warned OpenAI about the suspected theft in February, but received no response. OpenAI has denied these accusations.
OpenAI stated: "Apple had claimed they contacted us in February, which we did not respond to. Now, they admit that their external lawyer accidentally sent the email to the wrong person after confusing two Asian surnames – and this was only discovered by them after we pointed out the error."
The email published by the company indicates that Gabriel Gross, a partner at the law firm, mistakenly sent an email to Che Chang, the legal advisor for OpenAI. This “warning letter” was originally intended for a former Apple employee with the surname Wang who was involved in the matter.
Apple also claimed that after leaving his job, Liu used a colleague’s laptop to copy dozens of confidential hardware files. Tang Tan was suspected of forwarding details about suppliers to personal emails and guiding new employees on how to avoid Apple’s exit review process.
OpenAI argues that the gag order request is unnecessary and maintains that "it has neither possession nor desire for any Apple proprietary information."
In addition, the startup also disclosed a set of iMessage chat records, claiming that these records contradicted Apple’s claims. The text shows that after Liu left, Apple employees still asked him to help find documents and technical details. OpenAI stated that any remaining access rights to Apple’s systems were due to Apple’s poor policies regarding employee separation, allowing former employees to still have access to company documents that they never requested to be retained. As for Tang Tan, who worked at Apple for 24 years, OpenAI said he always told the team not to touch confidential materials from other companies.
OpenAI agreed to the three requirements in Apple's five-point request, including stopping any future access, stopping any use, and preserving evidence—but refused to allow Apple's lawyers and forensic experts to examine its devices, drives, and networks.
