He claims a laptop proves a former employee accessed and used proprietary files for the AI company.
Apple has presented new evidence to support its claims that OpenAI used trade secrets recovered from former employees to support its new hardware business. In a move to seek expedited discovery, Apple filed a support document revealing information found on a MacBook laptop used by a former employee after he began working at OpenAI.
The case centers on former Apple senior systems electrical engineer Chang Liu. Apple’s initial forensic investigation into a laptop used by Liu after he left the company alleges that the former employee knew he had access to Apple’s third-party cloud storage and used it to download “dozens of confidential Apple files,” including a circuit diagram. Apple further claimed that Liu used this scheme to run simulations during his work for OpenAI. He claimed the laptop revealed previously unknown instances of stolen information, saying Liu “referred to the use of a tool and associated software packages with names identical to proprietary internal engineering tools used at Apple.”
Apple’s following arguments claim that after learning he was the subject of its internal investigation, Liu asked a colleague at OpenAI to “restore” all Apple-issued devices, which Apple claimed was a way to erase forensic evidence that could be used against him.
This is the latest salvo in a trade secret lawsuit filed by Apple against OpenAI earlier this year. It requested expedited discovery earlier in August, expanding the scope of its claims to include 11 former employees who it claims shared trade secrets with OpenAI. The company responded that Apple’s accusations were “reckless, aggressive and strangely personal” and denied any wrongdoing.
