OpenAI Hits Back at Apple Over Trade Secrets Suit — SkimNews
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- OpenAI published a blog titled 'Apple is getting this wrong,' calling Apple's trade-secrets lawsuit 'careful, aggressive, and oddly personal' and releasing iMessage and email exchanges to publicly challenge the allegations
- Apple's suit targets former employees Chang Liu (ex-iPhone engineer) and Tang Tan (25-year veteran who oversaw iPhone and Apple Watch design before becoming OpenAI's chief hardware officer), alleging they took 'secret and confidential information regarding unreleased technologies, processes, and products'
- Apple asked a court Monday for a preliminary injunction barring Liu, Tan, and OpenAI from accessing, using, or disclosing the alleged confidential information while litigation proceeds
- OpenAI reframes Liu's post-departure access to Apple's cloud storage as Apple's own failure to revoke system access when employees leave, noting Apple employees reached out to Liu for help locating the files and calling 'residual access' a common Apple problem
- On Tan, OpenAI says he 'has always been clear with the team that we do not want, and must not use, any confidential information from other companies,' disputing Apple's claim he solicited confidential info during OpenAI job interviews
- OpenAI also published emails showing Apple's outside lawyers initially emailed the wrong person, 'confusing two Asian last names,' and concedes no conversation occurred with OpenAI's General Counsel
Why it matters: Apple is asking a court to bar two of OpenAI's hardware hires — chief hardware officer Tan and ex-iPhone engineer Liu — from touching any allegedly confidential Apple information. OpenAI's public counter, releasing iMessages and legal correspondence, pressures Apple to disclose more of its evidence or lose the narrative before the injunction hearing.
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