Apple on Monday asked a US judge for a
preliminary injunction barring two former employees and OpenAI
from accessing, acquiring, using or disclosing alleged
confidential information as it moves ahead with its trade
secrets case.
Apple last month sued OpenAI and the two former employees, both
now working for OpenAI, alleging misappropriation of its trade
secrets to benefit the ChatGPT-owner’s foray into consumer
hardware, a dramatic escalation of already simmering tension
between the two companies.
The iPhone maker also filed a concurrent motion on Monday
seeking expedited discovery, including production of documents
relating to the defendants’ alleged access of Apple’s
proprietary and trade secret information.
It asked the judge to order the two former Apple employees
named in the lawsuit, Chang Liu and Tang Yew Tan, to sit for
depositions, along with OpenAI employee Yu-Ting Peng and an
unnamed OpenAI employee who previously worked at Apple.
Liu is a former Apple senior system electrical engineer
while Tan is Apple’s former vice president of product design for
iPhone and Apple Watch.
Apple also sought depositions from corporate representatives
of OpenAI and io Products, which is OpenAI’s commercial arm and
is listed as a defendant in the lawsuit.
“Apple will be irreparably harmed absent a preliminary
injunction,” it said in a filing.
“Apple’s request for a preliminary injunction is both based on
false information and completely unnecessary because we do not
have, nor want, any of their trade secrets,” OpenAI said in a
blogpost late on Monday.
Apple’s lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the
Northern District of California, comes after OpenAI successfully
fended off a legal challenge from Elon Musk’s xAI.
The lawsuit sets up a battle over the control of future AI
devices that may not use traditional apps or operating systems —
devices which, if successful, would direct consumer attention
away from Apple’s best-selling iPhone. Analysts believe OpenAI
is working on a phone or other device of its own.
Published on August 4, 2026
