OpenAI moves to dismiss Apple’s trade secret lawsuit over hardware plans, arguing the claims are too vague to survive in court.
OpenAI has formally asked a federal judge to throw out Apple’s trade-secret lawsuit, arguing the case rests on vague allegations rather than any identifiable stolen information. The filing, submitted Wednesday, escalates a legal dispute between two of the technology industry’s largest players over the future of AI-powered consumer devices.
OpenAI’s Motion to Dismiss
In its filing, OpenAI’s legal team asserted that the company has no interest in Apple’s proprietary information, describing its hardware direction as fundamentally different from anything Apple has built. The motion takes aim at what OpenAI sees as structural weaknesses in Apple’s case: it argues Apple never specified which confidential information was allegedly taken and instead relied on broad descriptions of product categories, a standard OpenAI says courts have rejected in similar disputes. The filing also challenges whether Apple can prove it owns a legally protectable trade secret at all, or that any of the named defendants, including the two former Apple staffers, actually misused confidential material. Apple had not responded to the motion as of Wednesday.
Apple’s Original Trade-Secret Claims
Apple’s complaint, filed in July, accused OpenAI of building an advantage in consumer hardware by improperly drawing on Apple’s internal knowledge, funneled through former employees, hiring tactics, and supplier connections. OpenAI’s response frames the lawsuit differently, suggesting Apple is using litigation to compensate for its own struggles retaining AI talent and its slower progress embedding artificial intelligence into its product lineup.
A Fight Over the Future of AI Devices
The legal battle reflects a deeper rivalry over who will define the next category of consumer electronics, devices that could operate without conventional apps or operating systems altogether. Industry analysts widely believe OpenAI is developing hardware of its own, potentially a phone or similar device, which could threaten Apple’s dominance in a market anchored by the iPhone. The stakes are heightened by the fact that the two companies remain commercial partners even as they battle in court:
- Apple integrates ChatGPT responses directly into Siri
- iPhone users can subscribe to ChatGPT through iOS settings
- Both companies compete for talent and market share in AI hardware
What’s Next
Whether the lawsuit proceeds to discovery or gets dismissed early will likely shape how aggressively both companies pursue their AI hardware ambitions going forward. A denial of OpenAI’s motion would push the case toward discovery, potentially surfacing internal records tied to the former employees named in the suit. A dismissal would give OpenAI an early legal win, though it would not resolve the underlying competitive tension between the two companies. No formal hearing date has been announced.