OpenAI agrees not to use alleged Apple trade secrets at hearing
Confirmed
The takeaway
At the Oct 14, 2026 hearing in Apple’s trade-secrets suit (N.D.
Status
- Claim
Confirmed
- Our reporting
- High confidence
- Importance
- 3 of 5
- Last verified
- 15 October 2026
Your AI and this story
- GPT-6 Astra167 days after its cutoff
- Claude Opus 5.5106 days after its cutoff
- Gemini 4 Argon197 days after its cutoff
- Grok 4.7136 days after its cutoff
None of these four assistants can know about it. The closest, Claude Opus 5.5, stops 106 days before it.
Key facts
- Judge’s signal (Bloomberg Law): US District Judge Edward Davila said he was ‘highly likely’ to side with Apple and issue an injunction against OpenAI
- OpenAI’s concession: a voluntary agreement not to use the trade secrets Apple claims were stolen while the case proceeds; Davila ‘will have the power to enforce the agreement’, which ‘also requires OpenAI to collect forensic images of 14 employees’ devices that may contain Apple’s confidential information’
- Limits: Davila said a forensic inspection of all devices and repositories containing Apple trade secrets sounded like a ‘huge ask’. Apple’s lawyer John M. Desmarais: ‘They don’t have 400 bad apples, your Honor, they have a few bad apples and know who they are’
- Counter-claim filed hours before (Bloomberg Law): OpenAI says a former employee who went back to Apple sent ‘over a hundred highly confidential files’ about at least one unreleased OpenAI device to personal accounts and presented OpenAI product plans to senior Apple executives; OpenAI asked for time to investigate and possibly file counterclaims. Apple says it found no evidence for this
- OpenAI’s position (October filing): ‘OpenAI is developing a new family of devices designed for the AI era ... OpenAI has no need or desire for Apple’s trade secrets’
- Also on the agenda: OpenAI’s motion to dismiss; no ruling on it was reported. The day before, Davila had partly granted Apple’s expedited-discovery requests
- Case: Apple v. Liu, 5:26-cv-07078, US District Court, Northern District of California (San Jose)
What happened
The hearing on Apple’s preliminary-injunction motion and OpenAI’s motion to dismiss took place in San Jose on Wednesday, Oct 14. Judge Edward Davila told the parties he was “highly likely” to grant Apple an injunction. OpenAI avoided a formal loss by agreeing, on the record, not to use the information Apple says its former employees took, and to collect forensic images from 14 employees’ devices. Bloomberg Law notes that this gives Apple “most of what it was seeking”. The judge pushed back on Apple’s broadest request, the inspection of every device and repository holding Apple secrets.
Hours before the hearing OpenAI turned the accusation around: a former employee who had moved from Apple to OpenAI and back allegedly sent more than a hundred confidential files about an unreleased OpenAI device to personal accounts. Apple says it found nothing to support the claim.
Why it matters
It is the first substantive courtroom result in the dispute over OpenAI’s hardware programme, which Bloomberg reports will start with a smart speaker priced over $300. The court-enforceable commitment constrains OpenAI’s device work while the case continues, during the period before its planned IPO.
The 9to5Mac page was not readable in full here; the account above is from Bloomberg Law.
Sources
3 sources from 3 sites. Numbers match the chips in the text.
3 sources: 3 press
Press
- Bloomberg Law: OpenAI agrees not to use alleged Apple trade secrets as judge signals injunction (Apple, OpenAI head to court...)news.bloomberglaw.com, press
- 9to5Mac: OpenAI agrees not to use alleged Apple trade secrets amid ongoing lawsuit9to5mac.com, press
- Claims Journal (Bloomberg preview): Apple, OpenAI head to court in high-stakes AI trade secret fightclaimsjournal.com, press
Changes
- Filed (resolves upcoming item
[Apple v. OpenAI: hearing on Apple's preliminary-injunction motion in the trade-secrets case](/upcoming/receipts/#2026-10-14-apple-v-openai-preliminary-injunction-hearing))