Apple has asked a U.S. judge for a preliminary injunction to stop OpenAI and two former Apple employees from accessing, acquiring, using or disclosing what it says is confidential information, escalating its trade secrets lawsuit against the ChatGPT maker.
The iPhone maker also filed a motion on Monday seeking expedited discovery, including documents related to the defendants’ alleged access to Apple’s proprietary and trade secret information.
Apple sued OpenAI last month along with former employees Chang Liu and Tang Yew Tan, alleging they misappropriated trade secrets to benefit OpenAI’s push into consumer hardware, intensifying a dispute between the two companies over the future of AI-powered devices.
Apple asked the court to order depositions of Liu, a former senior system electrical engineer, and Tan, the company’s former vice president of product design for the iPhone and Apple Watch. It also requested depositions from OpenAI employee Yu-Ting Peng, another unnamed OpenAI employee who previously worked at Apple, and corporate representatives of OpenAI and io Products, OpenAI’s commercial arm, which is also named as a defendant.
“Apple will be irreparably harmed absent a preliminary injunction,” the company said in its court filing.
OpenAI rejected the allegations.
“Apple’s request for a preliminary injunction is both based on false information and completely unnecessary because we do not have, nor want, any of their trade secrets,” OpenAI said in a blog post late on Monday.
The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, follows OpenAI’s successful defence against a legal challenge brought by Elon Musk’s xAI.
The case sets the stage for a legal battle over next-generation AI hardware that could bypass traditional apps and operating systems, potentially challenging Apple’s dominance in consumer devices. Analysts believe OpenAI is developing its own phone or another consumer hardware product.
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