United States District Judge Mark Pittman dismissed xAI’s bid to keep Elon Musk’s Tesla and SpaceX emails out of discovery in the Apple‑OpenAI lawsuit. The court upheld a prior ruling that the emails are part of Musk’s business, citing frequent cross‑company correspondence. The decision forces Musk to hand over the records.

The dispute began after Musk sued Apple and OpenAI over Grok rankings in the App Store, alleging anticompetitive collusion that leveraged ChatGPT in Siri and Apple Intelligence. During a May 13 hearing, Judge Hal R. Ray admitted X and xAI’s request to name Craig Federighi as a custodian and to compel Apple to disclose its Gemini‑Siri deal with Google.

Judge Ray also sided with OpenAI, arguing that Musk’s Tesla and SpaceX accounts host business emails for all three firms. X and xAI initially claimed the accounts were outside their control, but evidence of CFO e‑mails sent to Musk’s SpaceX address proved otherwise. The court found the accounts fall under discovery.

Judge Pittman denied X and xAI’s motion to stay the order and imposed no deadline for delivery. The ruling clarifies that CEOs using personal or non‑company accounts for business can still be compelled to produce records. It signals a stricter stance on corporate email discovery in high‑profile litigation.