OpenAI’s motion to dismiss Apple’s trade secrets lawsuit, along with newly submitted evidence, sheds light on the company’s legal defense strategy. Rather than focusing on whether former Apple employees working at OpenAI had access to specific information, the AI companies argue that Apple’s own security practices and offboarding procedures weaken the company’s claims that the information constitutes legally protected “trade secrets.”
In a complaint filed in July, Apple accused OpenAI of orchestrating a scheme to obtain sensitive hardware information from former Apple engineers. Apple this week asked a court to expedite discovery, saying an internal investigation found several more former employees may have been involved in or witnessed the alleged trade secret theft.
OpenAI alleges in its complaint that Apple allowed employees to use their personal iCloud accounts for work and failed to properly revoke access after they left the company. Apple managers also submitted text message records showing that the defendant, former Apple engineer Chang Liu, remained logged into his personal iCloud account after he left the company to transfer files and later asked for help with technical questions about Apple projects.
OpenAI also accused Apple of omitting from its original complaint the consequences of its “incomprehensible information management practices,” noting that the company failed to adequately secure systems when employees left the company, creating confusion and unwanted access issues that Apple now qualifies as theft.
This may sound like, “The door was unlocked, so I didn’t actually steal!” but, according to the defense, this argument is meant to strengthen OpenAI’s argument that the former Apple employee was simply trying to help his former colleague. It could also push the narrative that these are not true trade secrets if they are not protected as trade secrets.
OpenAI claims that Apple does not specify which “trade secrets” or sensitive components were allegedly stolen, instead calling them “general categories of the product development process, such as component manufacturing, product testing, vendor and supplier relationships, and distribution channels.”
OpenAI’s filing alleges that Apple is using the lawsuit to slow competitors’ innovation in AI-powered hardware, rather than focusing on its own product plans.
“OpenAI does not use or require Apple’s trade secrets,” the motion asserts. “OpenAI is building something completely new from any Apple company. OpenAI is interested in hiring the best engineers, inventors, developers, and creators, many of whom are drawn to the innovative and exciting work the company is doing and decide to leave Apple and come to OpenAI. Apple may not like that,” it reads.
“…Apple should not be allowed to use baseless and pretentious litigation to supplement its own profits.”
“The market’s shortcomings in talent and employee retention, and the failure to integrate AI into its products,” the motion states.
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