Apple has escalated its trade secrets lawsuit against OpenAI, filing in August 2026 for a preliminary injunction that would block the AI company from developing devices or products based on Apple’s technology. In the same filing, Apple revealed that its ongoing investigation has identified 11 additional former employees who may have been witnesses or otherwise involved in the alleged theft — beyond the two workers originally named in the complaint.
The original case named senior systems engineer Chang Liu and Chief Hardware Officer Tang Yew Tan as the accused OpenAI employees. The new filing also references OpenAI employee Yu-Ting Peng, who was named in the original complaint. Apple is now requesting expedited discovery from Liu, Tan, OpenAI, its foundation, and io — the device startup co-founded by former Apple lead designer Jony Ive.
Apple’s filing includes specific allegations about the conduct of unnamed former employees. One is said to have met with Liu and Peng before Peng’s interview at OpenAI and discussed Apple proprietary information about unannounced products. Another allegedly took screenshots of confidential Apple documents before an OpenAI interview. Apple also claims that, after it filed its original complaint, multiple former Apple employees now working at OpenAI contacted the company to discuss returning Apple-issued work devices they had kept when they left.
OpenAI pushed back publicly, stating in a blog post that Apple’s injunction request is “both based on false information and completely unnecessary because we do not have, nor want, any of their trade secrets.” The company also alleged that Apple made procedural errors during the case, including emailing the wrong person due to a surname mix-up and misrepresenting a conversation with OpenAI’s general counsel. OpenAI further claimed Apple failed to acknowledge that “residual access” to its systems by former employees stemmed from Apple’s own security procedures.
The escalation suggests Apple believes the alleged misconduct extends well beyond the individuals initially identified, and the outcome of the preliminary injunction motion could determine whether OpenAI can continue developing hardware products while the case proceeds.
Source: TechCrunch