OpenAI faces a "highly likely" injunction in Apple's trade secrets case
Judge Edward Davila said at a Wednesday hearing that he is "highly likely" to grant Apple an injunction against OpenAI, Bloomberg reported. The order Apple wants covers use of confidential information. For teams that hire from rivals, the exposure is the paper trail behind each hire.
The Product Desk
What happened
- Davila heard Apple's injunction motion and OpenAI's motion to dismiss the case on the same day in San Jose.
- Apple's suit names Tang Tan, OpenAI's hardware chief, Chang Liu, a former iPhone engineer, and the design firm io Products.
- On Tuesday Davila ordered forensic images handed over, along with the checklists and scripts used to interview Apple candidates, interview summaries and Liu's messages to a former colleague since January.
- OpenAI argues that Apple has identified no specific trade secret, only broad categories of hardware information.
- Davila refused Apple part of its discovery request, so research on metal finishes, power management and battery function stays in ordinary discovery.
Why it matters
- contradiction The scope of any grant is unsettled: Davila has stated a lean toward Apple, but a report says Apple's own "Apple Originated Information" category was called amorphous.
- exposure A court has treated the way a company screens a rival's staff as evidence. Recruiting files for rival hires deserve the care given to design files.
- constraint California voids non-competes, and that leaves Apple to prove theft after the fact. A limit on using information is the kind of protection it can seek.
- cost The suit has already slowed OpenAI's device work since July.
OpenAI's account of Chang Liu's exit puts the blame on how Apple runs its own systems. In OpenAI's telling, Apple encouraged employees to keep work on their personal iCloud accounts, and an authentication fault meant Liu could still get in after his departure [12]. OpenAI told the court in August that Apple cannot turn the foreseeable consequences of its own policies into evidence of theft [13].
Apple says the iCloud material is not its core allegation. That allegation is that Liu exploited an authentication flaw to reach Apple network storage and download files [14].
What the injunction would cover is the open point. Apple asked for an order requiring OpenAI to stop using any confidential information taken from it, and to stop seeking more [4]. Wednesday was the first substantial hearing since Apple sued in July [3]. There is no word yet on when a written order will come or how it will define the information.
The definition matters because of the product. OpenAI says it is building a new family of devices, starting with a doughnut-shaped speaker priced above $300 and due in 2027 [15]. Apple's complaint ties the metal-finishing research, which Davila left in ordinary discovery, to the speaker's shell [18]. OpenAI is also preparing to list at a targeted $1.4T [17]. If the order's wording reaches the finishing material, it reaches the shell.
For a hiring lead, the order targets information. The exposure is how well the company can show where its own work started. Outside California the starting point can differ. Germany permits a two-year restraint if the employer pays at least 50% of prior pay [11].
A hiring lead can sort each rival hire's work area on two questions: could the former employer name a specific secret in it, and can your team produce a dated record of where your own version began. A specific secret with no record is the quadrant to pause. A specific secret with a record is where the record is your defence. A broad category with a record is low risk. A broad category with no record is the one teams misjudge. They tell themselves a rival's vague claim is a weak one, and in this case the vague claim has not stopped the judge from signalling a grant [5][1].
What to watch
- Whether Davila's written order defines the covered information by specific items or by Apple's broad "Apple Originated Information" label.
- His ruling on OpenAI's motion to dismiss, which rests on the argument that Apple named no specific trade secret.
- What the forensic images, interview scripts and Liu's messages show once they are handed over.
Clarity's read
What the record supports and how the coverage leans. The claims behind it follow.
Reality
- Evidence50
- Adoption
- Insufficient
- Hype gap+10
- Incentives
- Insufficient
- Confidence55
Claim ledger
Ranked by verification strength, evidence, and original report placement.
- [1]
US District Judge Edward Davila said during a hearing on Wednesday that he is "highly likely" to grant Apple an injunction preventing OpenAI from using proprietary information allegedly shared by Apple's former employees.
- [2]
A federal judge in San Jose heard two opposed motions on the same day: Apple's request for an injunction and OpenAI's request to dismiss the case.
- [3]
Wednesday's hearing was the first substantial hearing since Apple sued in July.
- [4]
Apple wants an order requiring OpenAI to stop using any confidential information taken from it, and to stop seeking more.
- [5]
OpenAI argues that Apple has identified no specific trade secret, only broad categories of hardware information.
- [6]
Apple named Tang Tan, OpenAI's hardware chief, and Chang Liu, a former iPhone engineer, as the two individual defendants, alleging coordinated misconduct; the design firm io Products is also a defendant.
- [7]
On Tuesday Davila ordered forensic images handed over, along with the checklists and scripts used to interview Apple candidates, interview summaries, and Liu's messages to a former colleague since January.
- [8]
Davila refused another part of Apple's discovery request: research documents on metal finishes, power management and battery function stay in ordinary discovery.
- [9]
Apple's own category of "Apple Originated Information" was called amorphous, 9to5Mac reported.
- [10]
California voids non-competes, so Apple must prove theft afterwards.
- [11]
Germany permits a two-year restraint if the employer pays at least 50% of prior pay.
- [12]
OpenAI says Apple encouraged staff to use personal iCloud for work, and that an authentication error left Liu with access after he left.
- [13]
OpenAI told the court in August that Apple cannot turn the foreseeable consequences of its own policies into evidence of theft.
- [14]
Apple says the iCloud material is not its core allegation, which is that Liu exploited an authentication flaw to reach Apple network storage and download files.
- [15]
OpenAI says it is building a new family of devices for the AI era, starting with a doughnut-shaped speaker priced above $300 and due in 2027.
- [16]
The suit has already slowed OpenAI's device work since July.
- [17]
OpenAI is preparing to list at a targeted $1.4T.
- [18]
The metal finishing that Davila left in ordinary discovery is what Apple's complaint ties to the speaker's shell.
Get this ledger inside ChatGPT. Ask about any of our stories and the answer brings its figure, each claim’s verdict and the sources. Free, no account.
Sources
3 independent publishers whose own reporting we read for this story.
- news.bloomberglaw.comApple, OpenAI Head to Court in High-Stakes AI Trade Secret Fight
1 article · October 14, 2026
- thenextweb.comApple, OpenAI head to court over AI trade secrets, with the case on the line
1 article · October 14, 2026
- theverge.comThe judge might be on Apple’s side in its trade secrets battle against OpenAI. | The Verge
1 article · October 14, 2026
Topics and entities
Follow any of these and your For You feed starts watching them — no settings page required.
Topics
- Trade Secret Litigation in AerospaceFollow
- Employee mobility and non-competesFollow
- AI Hardware DevicesFollow