Apple Seeks Preliminary Injunction Against OpenAI, Requests Expedited Discovery

Apple has asked a federal court in California for a preliminary injunction barring OpenAI, io Products, and former Apple employees Chang Liu and Tang Yew Tan from acquiring, accessing, using, or disclosing its alleged trade secrets. The motion, dated August 3 and filed August 4, argues that Apple will be "irreparably harmed" without immediate restrictions.



Apple filed its original lawsuit last month, accusing OpenAI of orchestrating a campaign to steal confidential hardware designs, CAD files, manufacturing details, and other proprietary information.


In the latest filing, the company said it sent OpenAI a letter after the lawsuit was filed offering not to seek a preliminary injunction if the company agreed to five conditions: stop accessing or using Apple's confidential information; halt any ongoing use or disclosure; preserve all evidence; permit forensic inspection of relevant devices, cloud storage, email, and other repositories; and search OpenAI's systems for Apple confidential information.

OpenAI agreed to the first three conditions but rejected the final two, according to the filing, prompting Apple to seek court intervention.

"The harm is happening now—every day that passes without an injunction allows OpenAI to embed its knowledge of Apple's stolen information into its hardware development efforts," Apple argued.

Apple is also asking the court to require the defendants to preserve evidence, prepare forensic images of relevant devices and repositories for inspection, and return any Apple confidential information and trade secrets remaining in their possession.


Alongside the injunction request, the company also submitted a separate motion for expedited discovery, saying the additional discovery is needed to determine the full scope of the alleged misappropriation, assess whether additional or modified injunctive relief is warranted, and provide the court with a more complete record for enforcing any injunction it grants.

The motion seeks early document production, written responses, and depositions of Liu, Tan, OpenAI employee Yu-Ting "Alyssa" Peng, another unnamed former Apple employee now working at OpenAI, and one or more Rule 30(b)(6) representatives of the corporate defendants. It also requests full forensic images of devices, cloud accounts, and other storage allegedly used to access, copy, download, receive, store, or transmit Apple's confidential information and trade secrets.

Apple's continuing investigation has also raised concerns about additional former Apple employees now working at OpenAI who may have witnessed relevant events or accessed, acquired, used, or retained proprietary Apple information.

According to the filing, one former employee appears to have met with Liu and Peng before Peng's OpenAI interview and discussed proprietary information related to unannounced Apple products. Apple also alleges another former employee appears to have taken screenshots of confidential documents concerning an unreleased product shortly before interviewing with OpenAI, and that multiple former employees later contacted the company about returning Apple-issued work devices they had retained after leaving.

OpenAI has denied Apple's allegations, saying the preliminary injunction request is based on false information and is unnecessary because the company does not possess or want Apple's trade secrets. In a broader blog post, it called the lawsuit "careless, aggressive and oddly personal" and highlighted what it described as errors in Apple's earlier outreach, including an email sent to the wrong person following a surname mix-up.

A hearing on Apple's preliminary injunction and expedited discovery motions is scheduled for October 1, 2026, at 9:00 a.m. Pacific Time.