Weekend Edition · Fri 16 Oct 2026
OpenAI Agrees Not to Use Apple's Alleged Trade Secrets as the Hardware Fight Deepens
OpenAI made a voluntary, court-enforceable promise on Wednesday not to use information Apple says former employees took. It is not a finding that theft occurred, and OpenAI has now accused Apple of the same conduct in reverse.
Chanan Zevin - Chief Editor and Head of Desks
Published
What happened in court
At a hearing in San Jose on Wednesday, October 14, US District Judge Edward Davila said he was "highly likely" to grant Apple a preliminary injunction against OpenAI, Bloomberg Law reported. OpenAI then voluntarily agreed not to use trade secrets that Apple claims were stolen, and to collect forensic images of 14 employees' devices that may contain Apple's confidential information.
The judge will have power to enforce that agreement, meaning OpenAI could face sanctions if it fails to comply, according to Bloomberg Law and 9to5Mac. Davila also pushed back on Apple, describing its request to inspect every device and repository that might hold its trade secrets as a "huge ask."
What the agreement is, and is not
A voluntary undertaking avoids a contested ruling; it is not an admission or a finding of misappropriation. Likewise, a judge's stated inclination at a hearing is not a final order. At our cutoff on Friday morning, we had not found a written preliminary-injunction ruling on the public docket in Apple v. Liu, case 5:26-cv-07078 in the Northern District of California.
The court did issue a written order the day before. On Tuesday, Davila granted in part Apple's motion for expedited discovery, finding good cause for a narrower version of Apple's requests and denying others as better suited to ordinary discovery, according to the order published by 9to5Mac.
Apple's case
Apple sued in July, naming two former employees, Chang Liu and Tang Tan, along with OpenAI and io Products. It alleges they conspired to obtain confidential information on product design, manufacturing, component technologies, testing methods and supply chain, and use it for competing devices. The defendants dispute the claims, and OpenAI has separately asked the court to dismiss the lawsuit.
OpenAI's counter-allegation
Hours before the hearing, OpenAI filed papers alleging that a former employee who had left Apple for OpenAI and then returned to Apple sent "over a hundred highly confidential files" about at least one unreleased OpenAI device to personal accounts, Bloomberg Law reported. OpenAI said the files included images of unreleased hardware, engineering and manufacturing data and supplier information, and that the person presented OpenAI product plans to senior Apple executives. OpenAI asked for time to investigate and, if warranted, to file counterclaims.
These are allegations in a court filing. We found no public response from Apple to OpenAI's new claims at our cutoff.
Why it matters
The dispute sits at the centre of OpenAI's push into consumer hardware after its acquisition of io, the device company co-founded by former Apple design chief Jony Ive. A court-enforced bar on using contested information, plus forensic collection, could slow or complicate that work, though the size of any effect is unknown.
What to watch
A written ruling on the injunction, the outcome of OpenAI's motion to dismiss, any counterclaims, and expedited discovery deadlines under Tuesday's order.