OpenAI Dumps Apple Employees’ Text Messages to Fight Trade Secret Suit

OpenAI has publicly challenged Apple’s trade secrets lawsuit, publishing emails, text messages, and a point-by-point rebuttal that accuses the iPhone maker of making factual errors before filing its complaint.

In a blog post published Monday, OpenAI said Apple confused two employees with similar names, falsely claimed the company ignored its outreach, and incorrectly asserted that Apple’s outside counsel had spoken with OpenAI General Counsel Che Chang before filing a lawsuit against OpenAI.

The email and text dump comes after Apple sued OpenAI in July, accusing the company, former Apple engineer Chang Liu, former Apple design executive Tang Tan, and io Products of misappropriating hardware trade secrets as OpenAI expanded its consumer hardware efforts following its acquisition of Jony Ive’s startup in 2025.

“Apple is one of the greatest companies of all time, and built a reputation for obsessing over the smallest details,” OpenAI wrote. “This careless, aggressive and oddly personal lawsuit sadly doesn’t live up to that reputation.”

In its lawsuit, Apple accuses former Apple engineer Chang Liu of retaining a company laptop after leaving, exploiting an authentication bug to access Apple’s internal systems, and downloading confidential engineering documents. The lawsuit also claims former Apple executive Tang Tan used confidential Apple information to benefit OpenAI’s hardware efforts and that the company’s recruiting process encouraged prospective hires to bring sensitive Apple materials.

OpenAI disputes those allegations, saying Apple contacted the wrong person after confusing two employees with similar surnames and incorrectly claimed its lawyers had spoken with OpenAI General Counsel Che Chang before filing suit.

To support its case, OpenAI published iMessage exchanges between Liu and Apple employees sent after he left the company in January, showing them asking for help locating files, transferring documents, and answering technical questions—conversations OpenAI says undermine Apple’s claims that Liu improperly retained access to confidential information.

According to OpenAI, those exchanges show Apple employees relied on Liu’s access and that any remaining access resulted from Apple’s own offboarding process rather than deliberate misconduct.

As for Tan, OpenAI says the former Apple executive was repeatedly instructed not to bring or use confidential information from his previous employer. The company also argues Apple’s request for a preliminary injunction, which could restrict OpenAI’s activities while the case proceeds, is unnecessary.

“Apple’s request for a preliminary injunction is both based on false information and completely unnecessary because we do not have, nor want, any of their trade secrets,” the company wrote. “We’re much more interested in building innovative products and technologies that push the frontier.”