OpenAI published a lengthy public rebuttal to Apple‘s trade secrets lawsuit this week, calling the case “careless, aggressive and oddly personal” and releasing internal messages and emails it says contradict Apple’s version of events.
The post takes direct aim at the lawsuit’s timeline. Apple’s complaint says it contacted OpenAI in February to raise concerns and got no response before suing five months later.
OpenAI says the real explanation is more mundane. Outside lawyers representing Apple sent that February outreach to the wrong recipient after confusing two employees with similar names, then only fixed the mistake once OpenAI pointed it out. OpenAI also disputes Apple’s claim that the two sides discussed the matter through its general counsel, saying Apple has since conceded that conversation never took place.
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Read: Apple Targets OpenAI’s Hardware Launch With Trade Secrets Suit
On Chang Liu, the former Apple engineer at the center of the file-access allegations, OpenAI published redacted messages it says show Apple’s own staff reaching out to him for help locating files after he had already left the company, not the other way around.
Some readers who dug into the released transcripts pushed back on that account, noting the excerpts appear to show Liu himself asking for help accessing files, with Apple staff only contacting him later about an unrelated project.
On Tang Tan, the 24-year Apple veteran now serving as OpenAI’s chief hardware officer, OpenAI said he has been explicit internally that employees must never bring confidential material from a previous employer.
Apple has not yet filed a formal response to the rebuttal or to OpenAI’s underlying answer in court. The case remains before a federal judge in the Northern District of California.
