<\/p>\n
The judge in Apple Inc\u2019s high-stakes trade-secret theft case against OpenAI said he is \u201chighly likely\u201d to grant the iPhone maker an injunction barring use of its proprietary information by former employees now at the artificial intelligence startup.<\/p>\n
US District Judge Edward Davila\u2019s comments at a hearing on Wednesday mark a potential setback for the ChatGPT maker\u2019s hardware development efforts. Siding with Apple would be his first substantive ruling in the dispute.<\/p>\n
Read:
Nasdaq 100 drops 1.4% as OpenAI warning deepens bubble fears
OpenAI expects $70bn in annualised revenue by end of 2026
OpenAI says staffer arrested for hidden recording device in office<\/p>\n
In its lawsuit, Apple accuses OpenAI of scheming to steal intellectual property related to upcoming products and use that information to bolster its work on competing future devices.<\/p>\n
If granted, the injunction would require OpenAI to\u00a0immediately\u00a0stop using allegedly stolen trade secrets.<\/p>\n
Inspecting the \u2018bad apples\u2019<\/p>\n
During the hearing, the judge stopped short of siding with Apple on all its requests, saying that a proposed forensic inspection of all devices and repositories that contain Apple trade secrets sounded like a \u201chuge ask\u201d.<\/p>\n
Apple\u2019s lawyer, John M Desmarais, responded that the company would limit its inspections to a small number of employees who defected to OpenAI.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey don\u2019t have 400 bad apples, your honour, they have a few bad apples and know who they are.\u201d<\/p>\n
The judge in San Jose, California, is also hearing a separate demand by OpenAI to dismiss Apple\u2019s lawsuit entirely.<\/p>\n
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Defections, dispute<\/p>\n
The companies have been\u00a0at odds\u00a0for months, despite a two-year-old partnership that wove ChatGPT into Apple software.<\/p>\n
The dispute arose while hundreds of Apple employees defected to OpenAI, and has put a cloud over the startup as it targets a $1.4 trillion valuation and prepares to go public.<\/p>\n
Apple sued OpenAI, its hardware chief and a former iPhone hardware engineer in July, accusing them of conspiring to extract confidential information from former Apple employees related to product design, manufacturing, component technologies, testing methodologies and the company\u2019s supply chain.<\/p>\n
In its suit, Apple says OpenAI is exploiting that information to \u201cadvance OpenAI\u2019s efforts to enter the consumer hardware market\u201d.<\/p>\n
OpenAI vehemently denies the allegations<\/p>\n
The startup argues that Apple\u2019s lawsuit is an effort to restrain employees from leaving for a competitor, and that the company seeks to cast \u201cordinary job interviews as acts of trade secret misappropriation\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cOpenAI is developing a new family of devices designed for the AI era,\u201d the company said in an October court filing.<\/p>\n
\u201cOpenAI has no need or desire for Apple\u2019s trade secrets.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bloomberg News has\u00a0reported\u00a0that OpenAI\u2019s first consumer hardware product will be a doughnut-shaped smart speaker priced at more than $300. People within the company see it as a novel AI-centric device that\u2019s different from anything Apple is set to release.<\/p>\n
Counter-allegations<\/p>\n
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Hours before Wednesday\u2019s hearing, OpenAI flipped the allegations against the iPhone maker.<\/p>\n
In a\u00a0court filing, OpenAI said a former employee \u2013 who had left Apple for OpenAI but later returned to Apple \u2013 had sent \u201cover a hundred highly confidential files\u201d about at least one unreleased OpenAI device to personal accounts.<\/p>\n
The files included images of unreleased hardware, engineering and manufacturing data and supplier information, OpenAI said.<\/p>\n
The former employee also presented OpenAI product plans to senior Apple executives, according to the filing.<\/p>\n
OpenAI asked the judge in the case for time to investigate whether Apple possesses or used the information, and if so, allow the company to file counterclaims.<\/p>\n
Apple responded to the allegations, saying it has policies in place to prevent the use of confidential information from former employers, that it found no evidence to substantiate OpenAI\u2019s claims, and that the AI company is simply trying to distract from the \u201csignificant evidence\u201d that its employees took Apple product information.<\/p>\n
Read: Musk sues Apple, OpenAI, saying they hurt AI competition<\/p>\n
On Tuesday, Davila ordered OpenAI to expedite turning over documents concerning its alleged theft of trade secrets to advance forthcoming consumer hardware products.<\/p>\n
\u00a9 2026 Bloomberg<\/p>\n
#Apple #OpenAI #Judge #side #iPhone #maker<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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