OpenAI denies Apple trade-secret claims as suit threatens its device rollout

Four days after Apple's July 10 complaint, OpenAI says it is 'not aware of any evidence' the case has merit — but Apple is seeking an injunction that could stall the hardware push.

OpenAI said Tuesday it’s “not aware of any evidence” that Apple’s trade-secret suit against it has merit, a terse rebuttal delivered four days after Apple filed its complaint in federal court in Northern California. The response, reported by Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, is calibrated for the courtroom and the capital markets in equal measure: OpenAI is leaning toward a 2027 IPO, per The New York Times last month, and Apple is asking for preliminary and permanent injunctions that could bar OpenAI and io from possessing or using the alleged trade secrets at all.

That injunction request is where the litigation stops being abstract. OpenAI’s hardware bet is anchored by the $6.4 billion acquisition of IO Products, co-founded by former Apple executives Tang Tan and Jony Ive. Sam Altman said in November that first prototypes were complete; in January, chief global affairs officer Chris Lehane said the company is “on track” to unveil its first device later this year. A pre-launch injunction would land squarely on that timeline.

Apple’s complaint is theatrical in places and evidentiary in others. It alleges that “at every level, from members of its Technical Staff to its Chief Hardware Officer, and in coordination with business partners, OpenAI has been stealing Apple’s trade secrets and confidential information,” and describes OpenAI’s “nascent hardware business” as “rotten to its core by its illegal reliance on misappropriated trade secrets.” The specifics: Tan allegedly directed candidates still employed at Apple to bring “actual parts” to interviews for “show and tell” sessions; former employee Chang Liu is accused of stealing an Apple laptop; and OpenAI is said to have coached departing hires using a checklist developed by Apple’s former iPhone design chief to evade security processes.

Axios notes the filing is light on direct evidence that OpenAI leadership orchestrated any of it. Apple is counting on discovery.

The commercial subtext is legible without much squinting. Apple’s updated Siri, shipping this fall, now runs on Google’s Gemini rather than OpenAI’s models. The partnership talk is over; the litigation phase has begun.