The commercial secret lawsuit between Apple and OpenAI took a dramatic turn on August 4th. After Apple filed an initial injunction and accelerated discovery motion with the U.S. Northern District Court of California, OpenAI directly released a response titled "Apple Got It Wrong," accompanied by screenshots of internal emails and iMessage chat records, accusing Apple's injunction request of being based on misleading statements and management oversights.

This dispute began on July 10th this year. Apple sued former senior systems electrical engineer Chang Liu and former product design vice president Tang Tan (now Chief Hardware Officer at OpenAI), alleging that they systematically stole core design drawings, supply chain secrets, and manufacturing processes for hardware such as iPhones and Apple Watches during their transition to OpenAI and its hardware subsidiary io Products. Subsequently, Apple applied to the court for an initial injunction, aiming to prevent OpenAI and the involved former employees from accessing or using any confidential Apple information, and to compel the involved personnel to testify under oath, claiming that without the injunction, it would suffer irreparable significant harm.

OpenAI's rebuttal dismantled two of Apple's core accusations. First, regarding Apple's claim that "they contacted OpenAI but received no response," the truth was that Apple's external lawyers confused the surnames of two Asian employees, sending emails to the wrong recipients; after OpenAI proactively corrected this mistake, Apple's law firm finally admitted they had sent the emails to the wrong people. Second, regarding Apple's accusation that Chang Liu continued to log in to the internal network after leaving to download engineering files, OpenAI's disclosed iMessage conversations showed that after Chang Liu left in January 2026, it was an Apple employee who approached him, asking for help in finding and providing previous project documents.

Even more embarrassing was that the access rights remained on Apple's side. OpenAI stated that Chang Liu could still access some files after leaving because of poor internal system management at Apple—employees left, but iCloud sharing permissions were not promptly cleared, which ironically became an excuse for later accusing former employees of "unauthorized access."

In its response, OpenAI did not hold back: Apple is a great company that focuses on details, but this lawsuit filled with carelessness, aggressiveness, and personal emotions does not match its reputation; the company has neither and does not want any of Apple's commercial secrets. Following its victory against Musk, this confrontation with Apple has become a new focus in Silicon Valley. Fundamentally, it is a struggle for influence in the next generation of native AI hardware ecosystems— as large model inference efficiency and edge-side Agent capabilities break through, the next generation of AI devices is expected to gradually reshape traditional smartphone and app operating system forms. Apple is rushing to lock down its confidentiality defenses to protect its decades-long consumer electronics supply chain barriers, while OpenAI aims to prove the independence and compliance of its hardware business. As of the time of writing, the Northern District Court of California has yet to make a decision on the injunction application, and Apple has not responded publicly.