Apple has filed its response to OpenAI's motion to dismiss the trade secrets lawsuit, rejecting the company's arguments and reaffirming its allegations of "pervasive trade secret misappropriation." The lawsuit names former Apple employees Chang Liu and Tang Tan, along with OpenAI and io Products.

OpenAI's motion argued that Apple failed to demonstrate ownership of protectable trade secrets, lacked plausible misappropriation claims, and failed to show injury. The company claimed Liu was merely consulted by former colleagues post-departure and that Tan retained offboarding documents for compliance purposes. OpenAI also blamed Apple's own information management practices.

Apple countered that OpenAI's arguments ignore the legal standards for motions to dismiss and rely on attorney arguments and extrinsic evidence rather than the complaint's allegations. The company emphasized that its complaint sufficiently identifies specific trade secrets and cites precedent supporting similar detail levels.

Apple specifically addressed a redacted conversation where an Apple manager contacted Liu, clarifying that the complaint alleges Liu exploited an authentication bug to access Apple's network storage, celebrated the discovery, and downloaded confidential files while developing hardware for OpenAI. Regarding Tan, Apple disputed claims about "show and tell" sessions, stating he directed an Apple employee to bring internal components like batteries and logic boards for review by the OpenAI hardware team.

Apple concluded by requesting the court deny OpenAI's motion in its entirety.