Apple подал в суд на OpenAI и бывших сотрудников из-за утечки коммерческой тайны

❗️The Apple vs OpenAI situation is not normal. This is far bigger than anything we have seen in tech IP battles. Here is the actual story. ↓

Apple did not just sue OpenAI. They sued OpenAI, OpenAI Foundation, OpenAI Group, io Products, Tang Tan, and Chang Liu individually. Six defendants. That is not a warning shot. That is a coordinated legal offensive.

Start with the people.

Tang Yew Tan spent 24 years at Apple. VP of Product Design for iPhone and Apple Watch. He left to co-found io Products with Jony Ive, Evans Hankey, and Scott Cannon. All former Apple leadership. OpenAI acquired io for $6.5 billion last year. That acquisition was not about a startup. It was about importing Apple's entire hardware brain trust.

Apple alleges Tan directed candidates still employed at Apple to bring "actual parts" to interviews. Batteries. Logic boards. Show and tell sessions. He allegedly emailed himself supplier information before leaving. Used internal Apple codenames during OpenAI interviews. And circulated an internal Apple offboarding document to coach new hires on dodging exit security checks.

Then Chang Liu.

Senior system electrical engineer. 8 years building iPhones. Left for OpenAI in January 2026. Apple asked for the laptop back. He ignored them.

Within hours of leaving he messaged a friend still at Apple: "I still have another computer." Found an authentication bug that still gave him access to Apple's confidential cloud storage. Downloaded dozens of files while working on OpenAI hardware. A thousand-plus page compilation of technical documents. Main logic board manufacturing data. Engineering specs on unreleased products.

Then he started coaching Yu-Ting "Alyssa" Peng. Sent her links to proprietary folders. Told her how to copy files "to avoid trouble with the security team." Prepped her for her OpenAI interview with stolen materials. Warned her another candidate fumbled Tang Tan's questions about a secret Apple project. Told her to switch to LINE Messenger so nobody sees the messages.

His message after finding the bug: "LOL, I found out I can access the network storage, so funny."

Her reply: "I'm ready."

Every single message was left on Apple-issued work laptops.
She got the OpenAI offer. Left Apple on April 16. She is not sued but features heavily in the complaint.

Then the supplier angle nobody is talking about.

OpenAI allegedly got one of Apple's exclusive manufacturing partners to demonstrate a proprietary metal finishing technique by letting the partner believe Apple had approved it. That is not just talent poaching.

That is allegedly using Apple's own supply chain relationships against them.
400+ former Apple employees now work at OpenAI. Apple is calling this a coordinated campaign at the institutional level. A "pattern of theft at every level." And they say this is the "tip of the iceberg" because they have limited visibility into what is happening inside OpenAI.

Apple is not asking for money. They want an injunction barring OpenAI from using the secrets. Return of every file. Full discovery into io Products. Right as OpenAI preps a device launch and an IPO.

If a judge grants it, OpenAI may have to prove every component of their device was built clean. Part by part. Before it ships.
Think about what Apple is really saying here.

You did not just hire our people. You hired everything they knew. Our circuit designs. Our manufacturing processes. Our supplier relationships. Our testing failures. Twenty years of learning what works and what does not.

That is Apple's moat. Not the iPhone. The decades of knowledge behind it.
And their argument to the court is simple: you cannot rebuild in two years what took us two decades to learn.

The talent war just became a trade secret war. And this is not two startups fighting. This is a trillion dollar company telling a company preparing an IPO that its flagship hardware product may be built on stolen foundations.

This is not normal.

@aipost 🏴