OpenAI has agreed not to use trade secrets that Apple claims were taken by former employees who left the iPhone maker for the AI company, a voluntary concession made during a high-stakes federal court hearing, according to Bloomberg News‘ Annelise Levy, Mark Gurman, and Georgia Fearn. The agreement, reached Wednesday in San Jose, California, comes as U.S. District Judge Edward Davila indicated he was “highly likely” to side with Apple and issue a preliminary injunction barring OpenAI from using the allegedly misappropriated information. Davila will have the authority to enforce the accord, which also requires OpenAI to collect forensic images of devices belonging to 14 employees that may hold Apple’s confidential data. The development marks a significant early moment in Apple’s July lawsuit accusing OpenAI, its hardware chief Tang Yew Tan, and former iPhone engineer Chang Liu of a coordinated effort to extract proprietary details on product design, manufacturing processes, component technologies, testing methods, and Apple’s supply chain. Apple alleges the information was intended to accelerate OpenAI’s push into consumer hardware, including devices Bloomberg has reported will include a doughnut-shaped smart speaker priced above $300. Apple’s attorney John M. Desmarais told the court that the company would focus inspections on a limited group of defectors rather than a broad sweep of OpenAI’s workforce. “They don’t have 400 bad apples, your Honor, they have a few bad apples and know who they are,” he said, responding to Davila’s characterization of a wider forensic review of all relevant devices and repositories as a “huge ask.” For OpenAI, the voluntary step avoids an outright court-ordered loss in its first major substantive clash with Apple over the matter. The ChatGPT maker has denied the allegations, arguing in filings that it has “no need or desire for Apple’s trade secrets” as it develops “a new family of devices designed for the AI era.” The companies had maintained a partnership integrating ChatGPT into Apple software even as hundreds of Apple employees moved to OpenAI, a shift that has complicated the startup’s path toward a targeted $1.4 trillion valuation and potential public listing. Hours before the hearing, OpenAI filed its own allegations, claiming a former employee who joined from Apple, worked there for about six months, and later returned sent more than 100 highly confidential files — including images of unreleased hardware, engineering and manufacturing data, and supplier details — to personal accounts, and presented product plans to senior Apple executives. OpenAI has asked for time to investigate and potentially pursue counterclaims. Apple has said it maintains policies to prevent the use of prior employers’ confidential information and has found no supporting evidence for OpenAI’s claims. The case is Apple v. Liu, 5:26-cv-07078, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. The agreement gives Apple much of the interim protection it sought while the litigation continues, though the full scope of any eventual injunction and the merits of the trade-secret claims remain unresolved. Support MacDailyNews at no extra cost to you by using this link to shop at Amazon. The post OpenAI agrees not to use alleged Apple trade secrets after judge signals likely injunction appeared first on MacDailyNews. Invite your friends and earn rewards
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