Apple files trade secret lawsuit against OpenAI and Jony Ive's io Products
Apple is suing OpenAI over trade secret theft.
The suit was filed Friday, July 10, 2026 in the US District Court for the Northern District of California, naming OpenAI, Jony Ive’s io Products, and two former Apple employees. Apple claims the scheme ran “at every level,” as reported by CNBC and TechCrunch.
Allegations that read like a thriller
The complaint’s details are unusually cinematic for a trade secrets case. One candidate allegedly photographed restricted files from his Apple laptop before an OpenAI interview, leaving traces in Apple’s server logs.
The allegations reach OpenAI’s leadership. Hardware chief Tang Tan allegedly used Apple’s confidential project code names in recruiting, asked candidates to bring Apple hardware components to interviews, and coached departing employees on evading security procedures.
And engineer Chang Liu allegedly kept his Apple-issued laptop after leaving and used it to download confidential technical documents.
These are allegations in a complaint, not findings; OpenAI will get its say in court. But the specificity, down to server logs and named individuals, signals Apple believes it has receipts.
The backstory: io, Ive, and an exodus
The lawsuit lands on top of an already charged relationship. OpenAI acquired io Products, the device startup of former Apple design chief Jony Ive, for $6.5 billion. Hundreds of former Apple employees now work at OpenAI on its first hardware device.
From Apple’s perspective, that is its own design legend, staffed by its own alumni, building a rival device inside the best-funded AI company on earth. The only question was whether Apple would claim the talent migration crossed a legal line. Now it has, in federal court.
Meanwhile, Elon Musk and Sam Altman are already trading insults about the case on X, because no major AI story is complete without that.
What is at stake
The practical question is whether OpenAI can ship its hardware with this hanging over it. Litigation of this kind can mean discovery into how the device was developed, and injunctions are always on the table in trade secret cases. The most anticipated hardware launch in AI just acquired a courtroom subplot.
Sources
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