OpenAI moves to dismiss Apple’s trade secret lawsuit

The legal rebuttal, filed yesterday, escalates a dispute that began in July when Apple accused former employees of siphoning confidential documents to bolster OpenAI’s hardware ambitions. OpenAI’s motion characterizes the complaint as an aggressive, poorly investigated attempt to mask Apple’s own failures in AI integration and talent retention. The company explicitly rejected the notion that its hiring practices constitute intellectual property theft, maintaining that engineers are drawn to OpenAI by the novelty of its work rather than a desire to expropriate data.

Central to the defense is the case of Chang Liu, a former Apple staffer now at OpenAI. Apple alleges Liu downloaded confidential files after his departure, but OpenAI insists he was merely assisting former colleagues with routine technical inquiries. The filing contends that Apple is weaponizing the judicial system to compensate for its inability to compete in the talent market. With a hearing scheduled for October 1st, the conflict remains heated: Apple filed a request for a preliminary injunction on Monday, seeking to bar OpenAI and the named employees from accessing or using the disputed information while the litigation unfolds.