Apple has filed for a Apple preliminary injunction OpenAI dispute in federal court, asking a judge to bar OpenAI and two former Apple employees from accessing, acquiring, using or disclosing information Apple says is confidential. The Aug. 3 request raises the stakes in Apple’s July trade-secrets lawsuit over alleged use of its information in OpenAI’s consumer-hardware efforts.
The requested injunction is not a judgment on Apple’s allegations. Apple is asking the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California to impose temporary restrictions while the broader case proceeds, according to Reuters.
What is Apple asking the court to do to OpenAI?
Apple wants the court to prohibit OpenAI and former Apple employees Chang Liu and Tang Yew Tan from handling the information at issue in the case. Apple told the court it would suffer irreparable harm without preliminary relief, Reuters reported.
Apple has also filed a separate motion seeking expedited discovery. It wants documents concerning the defendants’ alleged access to Apple proprietary and trade-secret material. In plain terms, Apple is seeking a faster route to records and testimony while it pursues the requested restrictions.
- Apple asked to depose Liu and Tan, both named defendants.
- It also requested depositions from OpenAI employee Yu-Ting Peng and an unnamed OpenAI employee who previously worked at Apple.
- Apple sought testimony from corporate representatives of OpenAI and io Products, which is a defendant in the lawsuit.
Liu formerly worked at Apple as a senior system electrical engineer. Tan was Apple’s vice president of product design for the iPhone and Apple Watch, Reuters reported.
What does the underlying Apple lawsuit allege?
Apple filed its complaint on July 10 against Liu, Tan, OpenAI Foundation, OpenAI Group PBC and io Products. The court docket describes the claims as trade-secret misappropriation and breach of contract. Apple alleges that its trade secrets were misappropriated to assist OpenAI’s consumer-hardware work. Those allegations have not been established by a court.
The case, Apple Inc. v. Liu, is docketed as No. 5:26-cv-07078 in the Northern District of California. io Products is listed among the defendants in the underlying complaint, though Reuters described Apple’s preliminary-injunction request as directed at OpenAI and the two former employees.
How has OpenAI responded?
OpenAI rejected Apple’s account in a blog post published late Monday. The company said Apple’s injunction request relies on false information and is unnecessary because OpenAI does not have, and does not want, Apple’s trade secrets.
That leaves a familiar but consequential split: Apple says the court must stop continuing harm before the litigation runs its course; OpenAI says the alleged information is neither in its possession nor wanted. The filings now put both the request for interim restrictions and Apple’s push for accelerated evidence gathering before the court.
This story draws on original reporting from Reuters.
