Apple sued OpenAI: the company was accused of stealing trade secrets

Apple filed a lawsuit in the federal court of the Northern District of California against OpenAI, accusing the company of stealing trade secrets and confidential information about its unreleased technologies. This was reported by MacRumors.

What the accusations are about

In the lawsuit, Apple states that it found evidence of a months-long scheme to illegally obtain confidential information. According to the company, the head of OpenAI's hardware division and former Apple designer Tan Tan, as well as former Apple electrical engineer Chang Liu, involved Apple employees who were interviewing at OpenAI in sharing information about unreleased devices, components, manufacturing processes, and supplier interactions.

In a statement to MacRumors, Apple emphasized that it filed the lawsuit to protect the work of its employees and intellectual property.

Apple claims security procedures were bypassed

According to the company, Tan used knowledge of Apple's internal employee termination procedures to help future OpenAI employees avoid checks when transitioning to the new company.

The lawsuit also states that after his dismissal, Tan improperly retained an internal Apple document with restricted access describing security procedures during employee terminations. Apple claims this document was shared among new OpenAI employees even before their official departure from Apple so they could familiarize themselves with security protocols in advance and bypass them.

The company asserts that the investigation revealed a systemic practice of bypassing internal mechanisms protecting confidential information by employees moving to OpenAI.

Use of confidential data

Apple states that new OpenAI employees sent confidential information by email after leaving Apple and used knowledge of the company's trade secrets to develop OpenAI hardware.

The lawsuit also notes that OpenAI allegedly used confidential information about Apple's suppliers while working on its own artificial intelligence device. According to Apple, one of the supplier companies was misled about OpenAI's right to use metal processing technology, which is a trade secret of Apple.

Additionally, Apple claims that Tan asked one of the employees to bring to the interview details of the projects she worked on, including batteries, SIP systems, logic boards, and other components. According to the company, similar requests were made to other OpenAI candidates.

Specific claims against the former engineer

According to Apple, Chang Liu kept a company laptop after dismissal and exploited a system vulnerability to download dozens of confidential documents while working at OpenAI.

The lawsuit also states that Liu maintained contact with Apple employee Yu-Tin "Alyssa" Pen, who allegedly passed him information about internal projects, supplier decisions, and technical details of the company.

Apple demands to prohibit the use of its technologies

The company states that OpenAI's hardware division is built on trade secrets illegally obtained from Apple and accuses OpenAI's management of fostering a culture of illegal use of confidential information.

The lawsuit also notes that Apple contacted OpenAI in February after discovering a possible violation but received no response, after which it launched its own investigation.

Apple asks the court to prohibit OpenAI from owning, using, or disclosing the company's technologies and to recover damages to be determined by the court. Separate lawsuits have been filed against Tan and Liu for breach of contracts with Apple.

At the same time, the lawsuit notes that the case does not concern the current partnership between Apple and OpenAI regarding the integration of ChatGPT with Siri. The names of OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and former Apple chief designer Jony Ive are mentioned in the case materials but are not defendants, and Apple does not claim their involvement in the alleged violations.

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