On August 27, OpenAI, together with former Apple executives Tang Tan and Chang Liu, as well as Jony Ive's io Products, filed a new petition with the court, requesting the judge to "dismiss with prejudice" Apple's lawsuit alleging trade secret theft, in order to completely prevent Apple from bringing the same claim again in the future. This move marks an escalation in the legal battle between tech giants and emerging generative AI companies over top talent mobility and core technology ownership.

This case originated from Apple's recent lawsuit. Apple accused former employees Chang Liu and Tang Tan of illegally obtaining and leaking company secrets while joining OpenAI and io Products, and even guiding job seekers to bypass Apple's security review systems. To this end, Apple not only applied for a preliminary injunction to prevent the defendants from using related proprietary information, but also requested expedited discovery procedures to assess potential damages.

Apple

After the previous motion to dismiss was refuted by Apple on the grounds that the allegations were "specific and clear," OpenAI directly pointed out in its latest legal response that Apple's complaint had fundamental factual deficiencies. OpenAI emphasized that under the Defend Trade Secrets Act (DTSA), the plaintiff must clearly define specific trade secrets, prove their legality, and provide concrete evidence of illegal misappropriation. However, Apple only provided vague conceptual descriptions, attempting to mask the lack of factual evidence with subjective speculation. The submission of pleadings between both parties has now officially concluded, and the court will hold a hearing on October 1st.

As competition for top software and hardware R&D talent in the AI industry intensifies, this case not only concerns the compliance boundaries in cross-company collaboration, but its final ruling will also have a profound impact on the movement of Silicon Valley technical personnel and intellectual property protection standards in the AI ecosystem.