Apple Seeks Court Order Against OpenAI in Trade Secrets Lawsuit
Synopsis
Apple is seeking a preliminary injunction to prevent OpenAI and two former employees from accessing or using alleged trade secrets. The company has also requested expedited discovery and depositions as the lawsuit moves forward.
Key Highlights
- Apple has requested a U.S. court to injunction against OpenAI and two former Apple employees.
- Apple’s seeking to block the access, use or disclosure of purported confidential information.
- The firm has also requested expedited discovery and depositions.
Apple asks a U.S. judge for an injunction to keep OpenAI and two former employees from accessing, acquiring, using or disclosing what Apple claims is its confidential information as the company pursues a trade secrets lawsuit.
In a lawsuit filed last month, Apple accused OpenAI of misappropriating its trade secrets to help the consumer hardware initiatives of OpenAI, and also sued two former Apple employees who now work at OpenAI: Chang Liu and Tang Yew Tan.
Apple Seeks Discovery and Depositions
Apple filed a motion for early discovery which included requests to produce documents on the defendants’ impact on access to Apple’s proprietary and trade secret information.
The firm asked for an order from the court for depositions of Chang Liu, Tang Yew Tan and two OpenAI employees, including Yu-Ting Peng as well as another hired on at the company who had been previously employed at Apple.
Liu is a senior system electrical engineer at Apple, and Tan is the former vice president of product design for Apple’s iPhone and Apple Watch.
Apple also requested depositions from representatives of OpenAI itself and io Products, OpenAI’s commercial unit that is named in the suit. Apple stated in its filing that it would suffer “irreparable harm” without a preliminary injunction.
OpenAI Responds
OpenAI called Apple’s request misleading and totally unwarranted as they do not have or want any of their trade secrets, in a blog post.
The lawsuit from Apple, which was filed with the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, follows one that OpenAI won in court against a challenge brought by xAI, the AI research company founded by Elon Musk.
Source: Reuters
At Inspirepreneurs Magazine, covering entrepreneurship, business failures, and the human stories behind the world's most ambitious founders. She writes at the intersection of strategy and storytelling.
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