Former Apple Employees at the Center of a Lawsuit Against OpenAI

Apple alleges that former employees retained confidential information. OpenAI disputes the claims and has published its account of the case.

A lawsuit filed by Apple alleges that several former employees retained or sought confidential information after leaving the company to join OpenAI. OpenAI disputes the claims and is seeking to have a preliminary injunction denied, stating that it neither possesses nor intends to use the trade secrets in question.

OpenAI focuses in particular on the case of Chang Liu. According to the published exchanges, Apple employees allegedly asked him to help locate files and answer technical questions after his departure. The company also argues that access to certain documents may have remained active because Apple did not fully revoke account permissions when employees left.

The publication also addresses Tang Tan, a former Apple executive. OpenAI states that he repeatedly reminded his teams not to use confidential information belonging to other companies.

Another section concerns exchanges between Apple’s attorneys and OpenAI’s general counsel. OpenAI published emails indicating that outside counsel contacted the wrong person and mistakenly claimed to have spoken with him by phone. The company argues that the specific allegations later included in the lawsuit were not raised with OpenAI before the complaint was filed.