Apple Wins Early Access to OpenAI Files in Trade Secrets Suit

Apple Inc. convinced a federal judge in California to force OpenAI Inc. to expedite turning over documents concerning its alleged theft of trade secrets to advance forthcoming consumer hardware products.

There’s a valid risk that critical forensic evidence on the devices of engineers that OpenAI poached could be destroyed, Judge Edward J. Davila said Tuesday, pointing to a conversation between former employees Chang Liu and Alyssa Peng about wiping their Apple-owned electronics.

Such discovery is necessary to uncover the scope of any alleged trade secret misappropriation, especially when those secrets may become “so deeply entangled with OpenAI’s hardware products or other research and development efforts that the harm cannot be undone,” he wrote for the US District Court for the Northern District of California.

Partly granting Apple’s motion for expedited discovery, Davila ordered OpenAI to hand over forensic images of devices, summaries of certain Apple employee interviews, conversations between Liu and Peng on the LINE messaging platform, and documents about the former Apple employees’ responsibilities at OpenAI.

Liu, Peng, and ex-Apple hardware chief Tang Yew Tan also were ordered to sit for early depositions.

The decision comes one day before the parties are set to face off in a hearing over OpenAI’s motion to dismiss the case and Apple’s bid for a preliminary injunction barring OpenAI and the former employees from using the alleged trade secrets.

The heated legal fight between the two Big Tech companies began in July when Apple sued OpenAI, Liu, and Tan, accusing them of executing a coordinated campaign to steal information about upcoming Apple products.

OpenAI argues the lawsuit is baseless and a pretext to compensate for Apple’s shortcomings in the market for talent.

Davila’s Tuesday order also denied Apple’s request for expedited discovery into OpenAI’s research and development related to metal finishes, power management, and battery functionality for hardware products, ruling the documents are appropriate for discovery on an ordinary time line.

He also delayed ruling on discovery requests including the term “Apple Originated Information” because it’s “amorphous as currently defined” and could create an “extremely burdensome, and perhaps untenable task” for OpenAI.

Desmarais LLP and Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP represent Apple. Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP represents OpenAI, Liu, and Tang. Liu is also represented by Kwun Bhansali Lazarus LLP and Keker, Van Nest & Peters LLP.

The case is Apple Inc. v. Liu, N.D. Cal., No. 5:26-cv-07078, 10/13/26.