Apple is seeking a preliminary injunction against OpenAI in its trade secrets lawsuit, aiming to block the AI company from developing a consumer device or other products based on Apple's proprietary technology2. The filing marks a significant escalation from the original complaint, with Apple claiming its investigation has uncovered evidence that misconduct extends beyond the two former employees initially named as defendants.
Apple filed its 41-page lawsuit against OpenAI in federal court in San Jose, California, alleging "a pattern of theft of Apple's trade secrets by OpenAI employees who were formerly at Apple"1. The suit names OpenAI, IO Products — the hardware startup co-founded by former Apple lead designer Jony Ive, which OpenAI acquired in 2025 — and two individual defendants: Tang Yew Tan, Apple's former VP of product design for iPhone and Apple Watch who now serves as OpenAI's chief hardware officer, and Chang Liu, a former Apple senior system electrical engineer who joined OpenAI in January12.
In its new filing, Apple is requesting expedited discovery from the accused employees, OpenAI and its foundation, and IO Products. Apple states that its continued investigation has revealed 11 additional former Apple employees beyond Liu and Tan who may have been witnesses or otherwise involved in the case, including Yu-Ting Peng, who was previously named in the original complaint. According to the filing, another former Apple employee met with Liu and Peng before Peng's interview at OpenAI and discussed "Apple proprietary information relating to unannounced products" during that meeting. A separate former Apple employee allegedly took screenshots of confidential Apple documents relating to an unannounced product before an interview at OpenAI.
The original complaint contained allegations that employees joked about unauthorized access to Apple's systems and that job candidates were asked to bring Apple hardware to interviews5. Roughly 400 former Apple employees now work at OpenAI, according to the lawsuit4. Apple has also targeted dozens of OpenAI employees with legal letters14.
OpenAI has pushed back publicly. The company published a blog post titled "Apple is getting this wrong," calling the lawsuit "careless, aggressive, and oddly personal" and sharing iMessage and email exchanges to challenge allegations central to the case6. OpenAI's director of strategic communications Drew Pusateri posted on X: "We have no interest in other companies' trade secrets. We remain focused on building innovative technology that empowers people everywhere". In its initial response, OpenAI said it is "not aware of any evidence that this complaint has merit"3.
The lawsuit has raised questions about the trajectory of OpenAI's hardware ambitions, which include a mobile smart speaker, as well as the company's reported IPO plans. TechCrunch's Sean O'Kane observed on the Equity podcast that "even setting aside whether or not the court grants any kind of injunctive relief or any kind of restraining order over what OpenAI is doing, it just naturally can lead to that sort of situation where it's going to cause some delays in what OpenAI is working on".
ANALYSIS Apple's move from a complaint to a preliminary injunction request — combined with the widening scope of implicated employees — shifts the case from a backward-looking dispute over past conduct to an active attempt to constrain OpenAI's hardware development in real time. The breadth of the allegations, spanning named executives, rank-and-file engineers, and pre-interview document exfiltration, creates legal exposure across multiple layers of OpenAI's hardware organization.