Apple’s trade secrets lawsuit against OpenAI, filed in a California federal court, is less a dry legal complaint and more a 41-page catalogue of alleged audacity: secret-keeping tips circulated to new hires, job interview ‘show and tell’ sessions with pilfered hardware parts, and at least one engineer cracking his own unauthorised access to Apple’s servers with a cheerful ‘LOL.’
What Apple’s Trade Secrets Lawsuit Actually Alleges
The defendants are OpenAI, its nonprofit arm OpenAI Foundation, and io Products, along with two named former Apple employees: Chang Liu and Tang Yew Tan. The claims include misappropriation of trade secrets under the Defend Trade Secrets Act, plus breach of intellectual property agreements against Liu and Tan individually, according to Courthouse News Service.
Apple is asking the court for a preliminary injunction to stop the defendants using its confidential information and to force the return of Apple property.
Liu left Apple in January 2026 after eight years working on some of the company’s most sensitive product development programmes, according to Ars Technica. Apple’s complaint describes a ‘rare’ bug that temporarily kept his access to confidential servers alive for weeks after his departure. He allegedly used that window from a former colleague’s Apple-issued work computer, sending her the now-infamous message: ‘LOL, I found out I can access the [network storage], so funny.’ She reportedly replied, ‘I’m ready.’
That colleague was Yu-Ting ‘Alyssa’ Peng, who herself departed Apple for OpenAI in April 2026, according to The Verge. In the months between Liu’s departure and her own, Peng allegedly kept Liu informed about Apple’s projects, engineering details, and vendor relationships. Apple claims Liu also instructed Peng on how to copy files from Apple devices ‘to avoid trouble with the security team,’ directing her to ‘specific Apple project folders and proprietary engineering data.’ Peng is not a defendant in the lawsuit.
Apple alleges Liu downloaded dozens of confidential files while building hardware for OpenAI, according to Yahoo Finance. Within hours of leaving Apple, he also allegedly texted ‘I still have another computer,’ referring to a second Apple machine he planned to use for continued access. Apple found that message on Peng’s work laptop.
The Show-and-Tell Interviews and the ‘Dreaded Walkout’
Tang Yew Tan spent 24 years at Apple, most recently as VP of product design for iPhone and Apple Watch, before leaving in February 2024 to co-found io Products. Apple alleges Tan, now OpenAI’s Chief Hardware Officer, directed Apple employees interviewing at OpenAI to bring ‘actual parts,’ ‘CAD/design artifacts,’ and ‘prototypes’ for in-person show-and-tell sessions. One candidate was apparently surprised by the request, saying he ‘didn’t even know we could take those from the office.’
The alleged coaching extended beyond interviews. Apple claims OpenAI circulated an internal Apple document, marked ‘Need to know,’ instructing new hires on how to avoid the ‘dreaded walkout,’ Apple’s practice of immediately escorting departing employees off the premises upon giving notice. Staying on during the standard two-week notice period meant continued access to Apple’s systems. The complaint also alleges departing employees were told to alert OpenAI ‘asap’ if asked to sign anything at an exit interview, and advised not to sign.
io Products is a defendant because Apple alleges the firm misled an Apple manufacturing partner into believing it had Apple’s permission to use a ‘confidential metal-finishing technique.’ io was co-founded by former Apple chief design officer Jony Ive, though Ive is not named as a defendant, according to Fortune. OpenAI acquired io in a $6.5 billion deal. Apple also alleges OpenAI approached a supplier using Apple’s confidential information about power and battery components, deploying ‘internal terminology’ that ‘only Apple-insiders would know to ask.’
Apple frames the scale of the problem around the figure of over 400 former Apple employees now at OpenAI. The complaint characterises the trade secrets involved as among the ‘most valuable intellectual assets in all of American business,’ noting that Apple has invested ‘hundreds of billions of dollars and decades of effort’ in developing products such as iPhone, Apple Watch, and MacBook.
The lawsuit does not claim to have the full picture. ‘Discovery will expose that the misappropriation has been occurring on a scale many times greater than the several instances described below,’ the complaint states. Apple says it first raised concerns with OpenAI in February, but received no response, according to PBS NewsHour.
OpenAI, for its part, has described its device project as a new way to interact with AI that goes beyond ‘traditional products and interfaces,’ without specifying what the hardware actually is. Its public response to the lawsuit, posted on X: ‘We have no interest in other companies’ trade secrets. We remain focused on building innovative technology that empowers people everywhere.’
The discovery process will test whether that response holds up to 41 pages of very specific allegations.
