A United States District Court judge has ruled that Apple will gain expedited access to OpenAI's hiring materials in the trade secrets lawsuit the iPhone maker filed in July, marking one of the most concrete developments in the case to date.
U.S. District Judge Edward Davila granted Apple's request for expedited access to documents associated with interviews conducted by OpenAI with former Apple employees who applied for roles within its consumer hardware and robotics groups. The order covers interview checklists, guides, instructions, manuals, scripts, as well as technical presentations and records showing whether interview discussions had included references to Apple technology or components.
The court gave OpenAI five days to turn over materials already collected and 14 days for any other materials related to this request, agreeing with Apple that these documents warrant priority treatment. The judge also approved access to private LINE messages — a messaging application used by the parties involved — exchanged between individuals named in the case, including OpenAI employees Chang Liu and Alyssa Peng.
Depositions were approved for Liu and Peng, along with Tang Yew Tan, OpenAI's chief hardware officer. All three are former Apple employees. Tan, in particular, was previously Apple's vice president of product design, where he led development of the iPhone, Apple Watch, AirPods, and other hardware engineering offerings at the company.
However, Davila denied Apple's request to expedite access to OpenAI's research and development in specific areas, such as metal finishes and power management. He also rejected several of Apple's broader discovery requests, including access to OpenAI's hardware research and information about what its former employees created while working at OpenAI.
The case takes on especially dramatic stakes because OpenAI is currently developing a consumer hardware device that could one day potentially rival the iPhone — or smartphones more broadly — if AI devices become a central part of consumers' lives and how they engage with software and services.
In its lawsuit, Apple accused OpenAI of a pattern of behavior it characterizes as systematic theft, including specific complaints about former employees using Apple laptops to download confidential materials, as well as files containing information about unannounced technologies, features, and products, including technical specifications, engineering presentations, and proprietary project data.
Apple, represented by Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP, is seeking a preliminary injunction to prevent OpenAI from moving forward with developing an artificial intelligence device or other products based on Apple's technology. To succeed, the company must prove that the information at issue qualifies as trade secrets and was misappropriated through improper means.
Elizabeth A. Rowe, a University of Virginia law professor specializing in intellectual property law, noted that for Apple to prevail, it would need to present much more than evidence that OpenAI asked candidates about work performed at Apple. "The first thing is that it needs to demonstrate it owns trade secrets — whatever the list of information is, the types of technologies here claimed as trade secrets — and that it took reasonable efforts to protect them, that they are not generally known, among other requirements," Rowe explained.
Mark Lemley, a Stanford University law professor, emphasized that not everything alleged in Apple's complaint would constitute unlawful conduct under California law. "Some of the facts Apple alleges, like hiring many employees or 'coaching' Apple employees on how to leave, are not illegal in California and may actually be part of sound business practice," he said. "But if Apple's claims that employees took confidential documents — and that OpenAI is using them — are true, that is a problem for OpenAI."
Sources: TechCrunch, Daily Journal, Los Angeles Times
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