Apple seeks preliminary injunction against OpenAI in trade secrets case

Apple on Monday asked a U.S. judge for a preliminary injunction barring two former employees ​and OpenAI from accessing, acquiring, using or disclosing alleged confidential information as ‌it moves ahead with its trade secrets case.

Apple ​last month sued OpenAI and the two ⁠former employees, both now working for OpenAI, alleging misappropriation of its trade secrets to benefit the ChatGPT-owner’s foray into consumer hardware, a ‌dramatic escalation of already simmering tension between the two companies.

The iPhone maker also filed a ‌concurrent motion on Monday seeking expedited discovery, including production ‌of ⁠documents relating to the defendants’ alleged access of ⁠Apple’s proprietary and trade secret information.

It asked the judge to order the two former Apple employees named in the lawsuit, Chang Liu and ​Tang Yew Tan, to ‌sit for depositions, along with OpenAI employee Yu-Ting Peng and an unnamed OpenAI employee who previously worked at Apple.

Liu is a former Apple senior system electrical ‌engineer while Tan is Apple’s former vice president of ​product design for iPhone and Apple Watch.

Apple also sought depositions from corporate representatives of OpenAI and ⁠io Products, which is OpenAI’s commercial arm and is listed as a defendant in the lawsuit.

“Apple will be ‌irreparably harmed absent a preliminary injunction,” it said in a filing. “Apple’s request for a preliminary injunction is both based on false information and completely unnecessary because we do not have, nor want, any of their trade secrets,” OpenAI said in a blogpost late on Monday.

Apple’s lawsuit, ‌filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of ​California, comes after OpenAI successfully fended off a legal challenge from Elon Musk’s xAI. The lawsuit sets ⁠up a battle over the control of future AI devices ⁠that may not use traditional apps or operating systems — devices which, if successful, would direct consumer ‌attention away from Apple’s best-selling iPhone. Analysts believe OpenAI is working on a phone or other device of ​its own.