Overview
- Apple filed a federal trade-secret lawsuit earlier this month accusing OpenAI, io Products and two former Apple engineers of taking confidential hardware designs and supplier know-how.
- The complaint names Tang Yew Tan and Chang Liu and alleges Tan instructed job candidates to bring Apple parts for ‘show-and-tell’ interviews while Liu downloaded sensitive files after leaving Apple.
- On Friday and over the following days Apple sent legal preservation letters to roughly 40 former Apple employees now at OpenAI, instructing them to save documents, messages and device data and to meet with Apple lawyers.
- OpenAI has denied the allegations, saying it is not aware of evidence the complaint has merit and that it has no interest in other companies’ trade secrets.
- Legal holds and broad discovery could force scrutiny of hiring and supplier records and may slow or complicate OpenAI’s hardware development and related business plans.