{"slug": "apple-sues-openai-for-allegedly-stealing-hardware-secrets", "title": "Apple sues OpenAI for allegedly stealing hardware secrets", "summary": "Apple has sued OpenAI, alleging that former employees now working for the AI company stole trade secrets related to unreleased hardware technologies. The lawsuit names OpenAI's chief hardware officer Tang Tan and former Apple employee Chang Liu, accusing them of downloading confidential files and coaching others to bypass security. Apple says it uncovered a pattern of theft benefiting OpenAI's hardware efforts.", "body_md": "Apple has sued OpenAI, alleging that former employees that now work for the AI company have stolen Apple’s trade secrets “for the benefit of OpenAI.” In [its complaint](https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.cand.474095/gov.uscourts.cand.474095.1.0.pdf), Apple alleges that it has uncovered “a pattern of theft of Apple’s trade secrets by OpenAI employees who were formerly at Apple,” and it names IO Products (Jony Ive’s hardware startup that OpenAI [bought in 2025](/news/703114/openai-io-jony-ive-sam-altman-ai-hardware)), Tang Tan (OpenAI’s chief hardware officer), and Chang Liu (who joined OpenAI from Apple in January) as defendants.\n\n# Apple sues OpenAI for allegedly stealing hardware secrets\n\nApple alleges that it has uncovered a ‘pattern of theft’ from OpenAI employees who formerly worked at Apple.\n\nApple alleges that it has uncovered a ‘pattern of theft’ from OpenAI employees who formerly worked at Apple.\n\nAn Apple spokesperson shared [this statement with 9to5Mac](https://9to5mac.com/2026/07/10/apple-sues-openai-trade-secret-theft/?extended-comments=1):\n\nAt Apple, our teams are constantly developing breakthrough technologies to create the best products and services in the world, and protecting their work and intellectual property is something we take very seriously. Recently, significant evidence has emerged suggesting individuals employed by OpenAI wrongfully took Apple’s secret and confidential information regarding our unreleased technologies, processes, and products. We will always defend our teams’ hard work and innovations, and we are taking all appropriate steps to do so.\n\nApple and OpenAI didn’t immediately reply to requests for comment from *The Verge*.\n\nLiu is accused of accessing Apple’s systems after leaving the company and downloading information, including “dozens of Apple’s confidential hardware-related files, including voluminous, detailed information about unreleased products, engineering presentations, technical specifications, and proprietary project data.” He also “coached” a former Apple colleague on how to copy confidential Apple files and “avoid trouble with the security team.”\n\nApple alleges that Tan has “methodically using Apple’s confidential information to benefit OpenAI,” including emailing information to himself about Apple suppliers before leaving the company and asking for confidential Apple information when interviewing Apple employees for OpenAI jobs. OpenAI has also told Apple staffers to bring things like “CAD/design artifacts” and “prototypes” to interviews.\n\n*Developing…*\n\n**Follow topics and authors** from this story to see more like this in your personalized homepage feed and to receive email updates.", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/apple-sues-openai-for-allegedly-stealing-hardware-secrets", "canonical_source": "https://www.theverge.com/tech/964350/apple-openai-lawsuit-trade-secrets", "published_at": "2026-07-10 21:36:51+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-07-10 21:47:35.561903+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["ai-policy", "ai-ethics"], "entities": ["Apple", "OpenAI", "Jony Ive", "IO Products", "Tang Tan", "Chang Liu", "9to5Mac", "The Verge"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/apple-sues-openai-for-allegedly-stealing-hardware-secrets", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/apple-sues-openai-for-allegedly-stealing-hardware-secrets.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/apple-sues-openai-for-allegedly-stealing-hardware-secrets.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/apple-sues-openai-for-allegedly-stealing-hardware-secrets.jsonld"}}