Overview
- Federal Judge Mark Pittman affirmed a magistrate’s discovery rulings and denied X and xAI’s request to stay the order, clearing the way for review of Musk’s SpaceX and Tesla business email accounts.
- The court relied on specific evidence, including xAI financial updates sent to Musk’s SpaceX address, to conclude those accounts are likely to contain communications about X and xAI.
- Earlier discovery steps included adding Apple SVP Craig Federighi as a custodian while a request to add CEO Tim Cook was denied, and X and xAI had argued that Tesla and SpaceX accounts were outside their control.
- The order does not set a firm deadline for production and defendants say collecting and producing the materials will take time, leaving the case in a prolonged evidence-gathering phase.
- The development intensifies scrutiny of internal communications in Musk’s companies and could shape what evidence is available for xAI’s antitrust claims that Apple and OpenAI disadvantaged Grok on Apple platforms.