OpenAI Publicly Rebuts Apple’s Trade Secrets Lawsuit

OpenAI published a public rebuttal on August 3, 2026 to Apple’s trade-secrets lawsuit, calling the case “careless, aggressive and oddly personal” and releasing internal messages it says contradict Apple’s account of how the dispute unfolded. The blog post, titled “Apple is getting this wrong,” is an unusually direct move from a company that’s normally careful about picking public fights with Apple, and it escalates a legal battle that was already one of the messiest stories in tech this year.

I’ve been tracking this case since Apple first filed in July, and this is the first time either side has gone this far in front of a public audience instead of a judge. Lawsuits like this usually stay buried in court filings that nobody outside the legal trade press ever reads. OpenAI decided to skip that step and argue its case directly to the public, with receipts attached.

What Apple’s Lawsuit Actually Claims

Apple sued OpenAI on July 10, 2026, along with two former Apple employees: Chang Liu, a senior systems electrical engineer who left for OpenAI in January 2026, and Tang Tan, a 24-year Apple veteran who ran iPhone and Apple Watch product design before departing in 2024 to join Jony Ive’s hardware startup, io Products (which OpenAI later bought for $6.5 billion). Tan is now OpenAI’s chief hardware officer.

Apple’s complaint alleges Liu failed to return an Apple-issued laptop after he left and used it to download confidential technical documents, including details on unannounced products. The suit goes further, accusing Tan of directing a broader scheme — using Apple’s internal project code names while recruiting, asking candidates to bring Apple hardware components to interviews, and coaching departing employees on how to dodge Apple’s security review process. Apple asked the court for a preliminary injunction and expedited discovery, and I covered the original filing in more detail in Apple Sues OpenAI Over Trade Secrets: What the Lawsuit Means.

On August 5, Apple escalated further, adding new allegations against the same ex-employees and pushing for a court order barring OpenAI, Liu, and Tan from accessing, using, or disclosing anything Apple considers confidential. So this isn’t a case that’s cooling off — both sides are digging in.

OpenAI’s Rebuttal: A Wrong Email and a Timeline Dispute

OpenAI’s response focuses on undercutting the narrative Apple built around when and how it tried to raise concerns before suing. Apple’s complaint says it reached out in February 2026, got no response, and waited five months before filing suit. OpenAI’s version is more mundane: Apple’s outside law firm sent that February outreach to the wrong person entirely, mixing up two employees with similar-sounding Asian surnames. OpenAI published the email chain and Apple’s own apology for the mix-up to back that claim up. If accurate, it means the “five months of silence” framing in Apple’s complaint doesn’t hold up the way it was presented.

OpenAI also disputes Apple’s claim that the two companies discussed the matter through Apple’s general counsel — OpenAI says Apple has since admitted that conversation never actually happened.

Then there’s the part of the rebuttal that reads less like a legal filing and more like a workplace dispute gone public: OpenAI released iMessage exchanges it says show Apple employees, after Liu’s January 22 departure, repeatedly asking him for help locating files and technical information — including one instance where Apple staff reportedly asked to AirDrop files off his iCloud account. One person in the thread reportedly called the whole exchange “highly irregular.” If Apple employees were still pinging a departed engineer’s personal devices for files, that’s an awkward detail for Apple’s own narrative about tight information security.

On Tan specifically, OpenAI’s statement was blunt: “Tang has always been clear with the team that we do not want, and must not use, any confidential information from other companies.” That’s a direct denial of the recruiting-as-espionage allegation at the center of Apple’s case.

Why This Is Bigger Than One Lawsuit

Strip away the legal drama and this is really a fight over talent and hardware ambitions. Apple’s complaint claims more than 400 former Apple employees now work at OpenAI — a number that, if accurate, says a lot about where experienced hardware and product people think the more interesting work is happening right now. OpenAI, meanwhile, is building out a hardware division under Tan and the former Apple design team from io Products, aimed at products that could eventually compete in categories Apple has quietly been circling for its own AI push. I wrote about Apple’s broader hardware supply-chain strategy, including its custom silicon partnership with Broadcom, in Broadcom and Apple Extend Custom Chip Deal Through 2031, and the contrast is worth sitting with: Apple is locking down chip supply for the next five years while simultaneously accusing its most direct AI-hardware rival of stealing the people who’d help build competing devices.

Trade secret suits like this rarely get decided quickly, and public rebuttals like OpenAI’s don’t actually resolve anything legally — a judge still has to sort out who’s telling the truth about the February email, the iMessage threads, and whether Tan’s recruiting practices crossed a real line. But going public changes the pressure. Apple now has to respond to specific documents in the court of public opinion, not just in a courtroom, and that’s a fight Apple doesn’t usually choose to have.

What Happens Next

The case is filed in the Northern District of California (Apple Inc. v. Liu, case number 5:26-cv-07078), and Apple’s request for a preliminary injunction and expedited discovery is still pending. Expect the next real developments to come from actual court filings and hearing dates rather than more blog posts — though after this week, I wouldn’t rule out either side taking another swing in public if the discovery process turns up something they think helps their case.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Apple’s lawsuit against OpenAI actually about?

Apple alleges that former employee Chang Liu took confidential technical documents when he left for OpenAI in January 2026, and that former design executive Tang Tan, now OpenAI’s chief hardware officer, ran a broader scheme to recruit Apple staff and extract confidential product information for OpenAI’s hardware division.

What did OpenAI say in its rebuttal?

OpenAI called the lawsuit “careless, aggressive and oddly personal,” disputed Apple’s timeline of when it first raised concerns (pointing to a misdirected email from Apple’s own law firm), and denied that Tan ever asked for or used confidential information from Apple.

Who are Chang Liu and Tang Tan?

Chang Liu is a former senior systems electrical engineer who spent eight years at Apple before joining OpenAI in January 2026. Tang Tan is a 24-year Apple veteran who led iPhone and Apple Watch product design before leaving in 2024 to join Jony Ive’s io Products, which OpenAI acquired for $6.5 billion; he’s now OpenAI’s chief hardware officer.

Has a court ruled on the case yet?

No. As of early August 2026, Apple’s request for a preliminary injunction and expedited discovery is still pending in the Northern District of California. No ruling on the underlying trade-secret claims has been made.