OpenAI yesterday denied allegations of theft of Apple’s trade secrets, telling a federal court that Apple had not demonstrated that any confidential information was actually stolen by its former employees, according to Reuters.
In a new filing submitted to the U.S. District Court in San Jose, California, OpenAI argued that the dispute was “a mess of Apple’s making.” The filing is a direct response to new forensic evidence submitted by Apple against former Apple employees Chang Liu and Tang Tan, whom Apple accuses of stealing trade secrets related to hardware design, manufacturing and supply chain operations after filing a lawsuit in July.
OpenAI says the lawsuit is an attempt to slow down a rival and deter more employee departures. In court filings, it says it hired about 400 former Apple employees for its hardware projects. The company argues that California law allows workers to move freely between competitors, while drawing attention to Apple’s internal practices instead of examining forensic evidence, allegation by allegation.
OpenAI alleges that Apple encourages staff to use personal iCloud accounts for work, potentially blurring the line between personal and company data after an employee leaves. It also says Apple’s practice of immediately escorting departing employees off site leaves too little time to return internal devices or files, describing the allegations as the result of a flawed departure process rather than intentional theft.
The filing says Liu retained access to Apple documents only to help former colleagues find files or answer questions, and that Apple employees contacted him repeatedly for help. Tan said he returned his Apple prototypes before leaving and only kept non-confidential documents, including a standard departure checklist.
OpenAI characterized the conflict as employees choosing to leave a company that it said has been slow to adopt AI for a competitor that is moving more quickly. He argued that Apple should not use its own internal failures to present these departures as illegal. Judge Edward J. Davila is scheduled to hear arguments Oct. 1.
