CUPERTINO, Aug 4 — Apple has asked a United States (US) judge for a preliminary injunction barring two former employees and OpenAI from accessing, acquiring, using, or disclosing alleged confidential information as it moves ahead with its trade secrets case.
Last month, the tech giant sued OpenAI and two former employees, both now working for OpenAI, alleging misappropriation of its trade secrets to benefit the ChatGPT owner's foray into consumer hardware, a dramatic escalation of already simmering tensions between the two companies.
The iPhone maker also filed a concurrent motion on Monday seeking expedited discovery, including production of documents relating to the defendants' alleged access to Apple's proprietary and trade secret information.
It asked the judge to order the two former Apple employees named in the lawsuit, Chang Liu and Tang Yew Tan, to sit for depositions, as well as OpenAI employee Yu-Ting Peng and an unnamed OpenAI employee who previously worked at Apple.
Liu is a former Apple senior system electrical engineer while Tan is Apple's former vice president of product design for iPhone and Apple Watch.
Apple also sought depositions from corporate representatives of OpenAI and io Products, which is OpenAI's commercial arm and is listed as a defendant in the lawsuit.
"Apple will be irreparably harmed absent a preliminary injunction," it said in a filing.
"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," OpenAI said in a blog post late on Monday.
Apple's lawsuit, filed in the US District Court for the Northern District of California, follows OpenAI's successful fending off of a legal challenge from Elon Musk's xAI.
The lawsuit sets up a battle for control of future AI devices that may not use traditional apps or operating systems — devices that, if successful, would direct consumer attention away from Apple's best-selling iPhone. Analysts believe OpenAI is working on a phone or other device of its own.
