OpenAI asks judge to dismiss Apple's trade secrets lawsuit as 'meritless'

OpenAI has asked a federal judge to dismiss Apple's lawsuit accusing the ChatGPT maker of stealing trade secrets, calling the allegations meritless. In a motion to dismiss, OpenAI argues that Apple is mischaracterizing both the actions of its former employees as theft and generic product development information as trade secrets, while also failing to make reasonable efforts to protect such information.

The lawsuit was filed by Apple in July, claiming that former Apple employees who later joined OpenAI stole confidential documents to advance OpenAI's hardware plans. OpenAI's formal legal response follows a blog post it published on Tuesday, in which it described the lawsuit as careless, aggressive, and oddly personal.

In the dismissal motion, OpenAI repeats several of these criticisms, adding that Apple's case is poorly investigated, relies on selective or out-of-context communications, and is baseless. For instance, OpenAI claims that Chang Liu, a former Apple employee now at OpenAI who is accused of downloading confidential files after leaving, was simply helping former colleagues who sought his assistance.

OpenAI also argues that Apple should not be allowed to use a pretextual lawsuit to compensate for its weaknesses in talent retention and its failure to integrate AI into its products. It emphasizes that OpenAI is building something entirely new and different from Apple, and that it has a legitimate interest in hiring top engineers and creators, many of whom have chosen to leave Apple for OpenAI.

Oral arguments on the motion are scheduled for October 1. Meanwhile, Apple also requested a preliminary injunction on Monday to prevent OpenAI and the named employees from accessing, using, or disclosing alleged confidential information while the case proceeds.