Apple has filed a motion seeking a preliminary injunction against OpenAI and two former employees, Chang Liu and Tang Tan, alleging a scheme to funnel confidential product information to OpenAI's hardware division.

OpenAI responded with a public rebuttal, calling the lawsuit "careless, aggressive and oddly personal." The company disputes Apple's account of pre-litigation contact, claiming Apple's outside counsel emailed the wrong person in February after confusing two Asian last names. OpenAI published the email chain showing the mix-up and an apology from Apple's counsel.

OpenAI also released iMessage exchanges allegedly showing Apple employees repeatedly asking Liu for help locating files and technical information after his January 22 departure, including directing a colleague to AirDrop files from his Apple-linked iCloud account. The messages reportedly show an Apple employee still asking Liu about internal files as late as March 5.

The company defended Tan, who spent 24 years at Apple before joining io Products, the hardware startup he co-founded with Jony Ive, which merged with OpenAI in July 2025. Apple's complaint claims more than 400 former Apple employees now work at OpenAI. A hearing on Apple's injunction request has not yet been scheduled.