Apple sues former employees for taking company laptops to OpenAI and stealing trade secrets! On July 10, Apple filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California against OpenAI, io Products, and two former Apple employees, accusing them of systematically stealing trade secrets. According to the lawsuit, one of the defendants, Chang Liu, worked as a senior system electrical engineer at Apple for 8 years. After leaving in January 2026 to join OpenAI, he failed to return the work laptop issued by Apple. Apple alleges that he later exploited a credential vulnerability to access Apple’s internal cloud storage, downloading thousands of pages of confidential technical documents, including logic board manufacturing test data. He also allegedly guided a colleague still working at Apple—who was preparing for an OpenAI interview—on which confidential materials to study. Another defendant, Tang Tan, worked at Apple for 24 years and previously served as Vice President of Product Design for iPhone and Apple Watch. He is now the Head of Hardware at OpenAI. Apple accuses him of asking job candidates during interviews to bring physical Apple components for "demonstration and explanation," using this as a way to extract more confidential information. He also allegedly shared Apple’s internal offboarding security process documents with new hires, teaching them how to bypass security checks. Apple stated that it raised these concerns with OpenAI in a letter this February but received no response. In the lawsuit, Apple is seeking an injunction and damages, demanding that OpenAI stop using its trade secrets. An OpenAI spokesperson responded, saying the company "has no interest in other companies’ trade secrets."