Apple and OpenAI have moved from product partnership to a fight over hardware secrets. On August 3, OpenAI published a public rebuttal, while Apple asked a U.S. judge for a preliminary injunction covering alleged confidential information.
Two former employees are central
The dispute focuses on Chang Liu and Tang Yew Tan. Apple says the two former employees are connected to OpenAI's hardware ambitions. OpenAI says Apple's account omits important context about February communications and residual access.
"This careless, aggressive and oddly personal lawsuit sadly doesn't live up to that reputation."
The verifiable timeline matters
OpenAI says Liu left Apple on January 22, 2026, and published messages in which Apple employees asked him to help locate information. Apple alleges improper access to cloud storage and is seeking faster discovery and depositions.
The public evidence does not yet settle whether files were used in OpenAI's hardware work. The useful facts to track are the January 22 departure, the February contact dispute, the five-month gap before litigation, and the August 3 injunction request.
The bigger issue is AI devices
OpenAI's acquisition of io Products and hiring of Apple hardware talent move it closer to Apple's device territory. The legal line is narrow: experience can move with employees, but trade-secret files and unreleased designs cannot.
The next signal is whether the court grants Apple's preliminary injunction. That decision will shape how much immediate pressure lands on OpenAI's hardware team before the case reaches the merits.
Nguồn: OpenAI official response, CLS, CocoLoop, The Verge, Reuters; verified Apple injunction request, Liu/Tan roles, departure message record, contact dispute, litigation gap and OpenAI public response.