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OpenAI\u2019s motion to dismiss Apple\u2019s trade secrets lawsuit, along with newly filed exhibits, reveals the company\u2019s legal defense strategy. Rather than focusing on whether former Apple employees working at OpenAI had accessed certain information, the AI company argues that Apple\u2019s own security practices and offboarding procedures weaken its claim that the information qualifies as legally protected \u201ctrade secrets.\u201d<\/p>\n
Apple\u2019s complaint, filed in July<\/a>, accuses OpenAI of orchestrating a scheme to obtain confidential hardware information from former Apple engineers. This week, Apple asked the court to expedite discovery<\/a>, saying its internal investigation indicates some additional former employees may have participated in, or witnessed, the alleged theft of trade secrets.<\/p>\n In its motion, OpenAI argues that Apple allowed employees to use personal iCloud accounts for work and failed to properly revoke access after they left the company. It also submitted text message records showing that an Apple manager remained logged into the personal iCloud account of defendant and former Apple engineer Chang Liu after he left the company to transfer files, and later asked him for help with technical questions about Apple projects.<\/p>\n OpenAI also accuses Apple of omitting the consequences of its own \u201cinexplicable information-management practices\u201d from its original complaint, noting that the company failed to properly secure its systems when employees departed, creating confusion and unwanted access issues that Apple now characterizes as theft.<\/p>\n While this may sound a bit like a \u201cthe door was unlocked, so it wasn\u2019t really stealing!\u201d defense, this argument is meant to strengthen OpenAI\u2019s argument that former Apple employees were simply trying to assist their prior colleagues. It could also help push the narrative that these weren\u2019t truly trade secrets if they weren\u2019t secured as such.<\/p>\n OpenAI argues Apple hasn\u2019t specified which \u201ctrade secrets\u201d or confidential components were allegedly stolen, referring to them instead as \u201cgeneric categories of the product-development process\u2014such as component manufacturing, product testing, vendor and supplier relationships, and distribution channels.\u201d<\/p>\n OpenAI\u2019s filing posits that Apple is using this lawsuit to slow down its competitor from innovating in AI-powered hardware, rather than focusing on its own product plans.<\/p>\n \u201cOpenAI has no use, need or desire for Apple\u2019s trade secrets,\u201d the motion argues. \u201cOpenAI is building something entirely new and different from anything at Apple. OpenAI does have an interest in hiring the best engineers, inventors, developers and creators\u2014many of whom have decided to leave Apple and to come to OpenAI, attracted by the innovative and exciting work the company is doing. Apple might not like that,\u201d it reads. <\/p>\n \u201c\u2026Apple should not be permitted to use a baseless and pretextual lawsuit to make up for its When you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission<\/a>. This doesn\u2019t affect our editorial independence.<\/em><\/p>\n
shortcomings in the market for talent and retaining its employees, and its failures to integrate AI into its products,\u201d the motion says. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n