Judge Fast-Tracks Apple’s Access to OpenAI Documents in Trade Secrets Fight Over Hardware Ambitions

A federal judge in California has sided with Apple Inc. in part, ordering OpenAI Inc. to speed up the production of documents tied to claims that it misappropriated trade secrets to support its upcoming consumer hardware products.

 

Judge Edward J. Davila said on Tuesday that there is a real danger that key forensic evidence on the devices of engineers hired away from Apple could be lost. He pointed to an exchange between former Apple employees Chang Liu and Alyssa Peng, in which they discussed wiping their Apple-owned electronics.

 

Early discovery is needed to establish how far any misappropriation went, Davila wrote for the US District Court for the Northern District of California. He noted that the secrets at issue could become “so deeply entangled with OpenAI’s hardware products or other research and development efforts that the harm cannot be undone.”

 

Granting Apple’s motion for expedited discovery in part, the court directed OpenAI to produce forensic images of devices, summaries of certain interviews with Apple employees, Liu and Peng’s conversations on the LINE messaging platform, and records describing the former Apple employees’ roles at OpenAI. Liu, Peng and former Apple hardware chief Tang Yew Tan must also sit for early depositions.

 

The ruling arrives a day before a hearing on OpenAI’s motion to dismiss and Apple’s request for a preliminary injunction, which would bar OpenAI and the former employees from using the alleged trade secrets.

 

The dispute began in July, when Apple sued OpenAI, Liu and Tan, alleging a coordinated effort to obtain information about its unreleased products. OpenAI maintains the suit has no merit and is a pretext for Apple’s struggles to compete for talent.

 

Davila rejected Apple’s request for early discovery into OpenAI’s research and development on metal finishes, power management and battery functionality, finding those materials can be sought on the ordinary schedule. He also deferred ruling on requests using the term “Apple Originated Information,” which he called “amorphous as currently defined” and warned could impose an “extremely burdensome, and perhaps untenable task” on OpenAI.

 

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