Overview
- Apple filed a federal trade‑secrets suit in July and on Monday submitted forensic results from a returned Apple‑issued MacBook that it says link a March download of a confidential power‑converter schematic to work done at OpenAI.
- The forensic report, Apple says, shows the schematic was used to run LTspice simulations, that output files later synced through an iCloud account to the MacBook, and that an OpenAI colleague was told to delete or “restore” devices after Apple began investigating.
- OpenAI has denied wrongdoing, asked the court to dismiss the case, argued Apple’s offboarding and iCloud practices explain post‑departure access, and publicly described Apple’s filings as “a mess of Apple’s own making.”
- Apple is pressing a judge for a preliminary injunction to block OpenAI from using the alleged materials and for narrowly targeted, expedited discovery to preserve evidence before an Oct. 1 hearing on those requests.
- The dispute highlights tensions over employee mobility and offboarding in Silicon Valley and could shape how courts treat trade‑secret claims, device access controls, and hiring of large groups of ex‑employees when companies expand into rival hardware markets.