Apple Sues OpenAI Over Stolen Trade Secrets
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- Apple filed a 41-page lawsuit in Northern California federal court accusing OpenAI of stealing trade secrets through former Apple employees, naming Tang Tan (former Apple Watch VP, 24 years at Apple, now OpenAI's chief hardware officer after the io acquisition), Chang Liu (former iPhone systems electrical engineer, 8 years), and Yu-Ting "Alyssa" Peng.
- The complaint alleges Tan asked recruits to bring Apple hardware to "show and tell" sessions and coached employees on avoiding offboarding security procedures; Apple called the named individuals "the tip of the iceberg," claiming theft at "every level" up to its chief hardware officer.
- OpenAI paid nearly $6.5 billion for Jony Ive's hardware startup io and is preparing a 2027 device launch, while also confidentially filing a Form S-1 with the SEC last month ahead of a planned IPO.
- Legal experts told The Verge the individual allegations are "run-of-the-mill" but unusual in scope — combining hiring-stage extraction, interview solicitation, and internal collusion all in one case against two large players, likely guaranteeing years of litigation.
- Sam Altman responded on X: "i am not afraid of apple, but i have tremendous respect for them. s-tier company," after Apple and OpenAI had previously partnered on ChatGPT integration in Apple devices in 2024.
- Avery Williams of McKool Smith warned OpenAI won't be "out of the woods until we get a ruling from a higher court on the fair use question for AI training," calling it a "trillion-dollar question."
Why it matters: The timing is brutal for OpenAI: the suit names the chief hardware officer leading its $6.5 billion consumer device bet, lands just as OpenAI has filed its S-1 for a public offering, and forces discovery into the very hires meant to close OpenAI's hardware gap. Even if individual claims are ordinary, Apple's reputation as a tenacious litigant that doesn't back down means years of legal drag during the company's most commercially critical stretch.
