{"id":4917,"date":"2026-08-04T21:17:18","date_gmt":"2026-08-04T21:17:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=4917"},"modified":"2026-08-04T21:17:18","modified_gmt":"2026-08-04T21:17:18","slug":"openai-fires-back-at-apple-publishing-private-emails-to-counter-trade-secret-claims","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=4917","title":{"rendered":"OpenAI fires back at Apple, publishing private emails to counter trade-secret claims"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p>The AI lab published a response\u2014along with a tranche of private emails and messages\u2014pushing back on some of the claims in Apple\u2019s lawsuit filed last month that accused OpenAI, its hardware unit, io Products, and two former Apple employees of trade-secret theft.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=4915\">SpaceX revenue surges to $7.8 billion, blowing past Wall Street expectations by nearly $1 billion<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Apple had accused the AI lab of carrying out a coordinated effort to take confidential information about unreleased Apple products and processes. The suit includes claims alleging that a former employee who joined OpenAI took advantage of a security bug; that job candidates were encouraged to bring proprietary Apple hardware into interviews; and that OpenAI leadership effectively normalized this conduct.<\/p>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>OpenAI\u2019s blog post is not a legal response to the suit, but rather an effort to publicly point out flaws in some of Apple\u2019s accusations and legal process\u2014and potentially court public opinion.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cApple is one of the greatest companies of all time, and built a reputation for obsessing over the smallest details,\u201d OpenAI wrote in the blog. \u201cThis careless, aggressive, and oddly personal lawsuit sadly doesn\u2019t live up to that reputation.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In what appear to be two missteps, the company says, Apple\u2019s outside lawyers emailed the wrong individual after confusing \u201ctwo Asian last names,\u201d and that a purported conversation with OpenAI\u2019s general counsel \u201cnever happened.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>OpenAI accused Apple of trying to hide the fact that it never raised the specific allegations in this lawsuit at that time. Instead, the lab says, Apple informed OpenAI only that it was \u201cresolving any issues\u201d and did not contact the lab any further until it sued.<\/p>\n<div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>In its lawsuit, Apple alleges that OpenAI benefited from confidential information taken by former Apple engineer Chang Liu and former design executive Tang Tan.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=4913\">Toyota sold fewer cars but nearly doubled profit on cheap yen<\/a><\/p>\n<p>OpenAI counters that Apple now concedes its own employees reached out to Liu\u2014not the other way around\u2014and published messages it says show Apple staff asking Liu for help locating files and answering technical questions after his Jan. 22 departure.\u00a0<\/p>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>OpenAI also argues that these emails undercut Apple\u2019s narrative that the company ignored its concerns, saying they demonstrate that OpenAI responded to Apple\u2019s outreach and that any breakdown in communication stemmed from Apple\u2019s own outside counsel.<\/p>\n<div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>The dispute reflects a rapidly deteriorating relationship between the two companies, which have shifted from collaboration to competition as both push into competing product areas. While Apple has been leaning on Google to integrate more advanced AI into its ecosystem, OpenAI has moved deeper into consumer devices\u2014particularly after acquiring Jony Ive\u2019s design firm io and recruiting several former Apple staff, moves that appear to have heightened tensions.<\/p>\n<div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Apple, in a motion for a preliminary injunction filed this week, told the court it is seeking \u201cto stop the theft of its trade secrets\u201d and warned that it has \u201csuffered and will continue to suffer irreparable harm\u201d without an order blocking OpenAI and the two former employees from using or spreading its confidential information. The company argued that if Apple trade secrets \u201cget embedded in [OpenAI\u2019s] products and operations,\u201d it could end up competing in the consumer hardware market \u201cagainst its own trade secret technologies,\u201d according to the filing.<\/p>\n<p>Representatives for Apple did not immediately respond to <em>Fortune\u2019<\/em>s request for comment. A spokesperson for OpenAI pointed <em>Fortune <\/em>to the publicly available blog post.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=4911\">McDonald\u2019s U.S. sales growth stalls to 0.8% as gas prices bite<\/a><\/p>\n<div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Apple is asking a judge to halt OpenAI\u2019s use of alleged trade secrets and speed up discovery.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4916,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[216],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4917","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-apple"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>OpenAI fires back at Apple, publishing private emails to counter trade-secret claims - Cross Country Moving Team<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=4917\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"OpenAI fires back at Apple, publishing private emails to counter trade-secret claims - Cross Country Moving Team\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Apple is asking a judge to halt OpenAI\u2019s use of alleged trade secrets and speed up discovery.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=4917\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Cross Country Moving Team\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-08-04T21:17:18+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\\\/?p=4917#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\\\/?p=4917\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/1b8121bfb9a1c55d1fff3fca675fceaa\"},\"headline\":\"OpenAI fires back at Apple, publishing private emails to counter trade-secret claims\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-08-04T21:17:18+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\\\/?p=4917\"},\"wordCount\":605,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\\\/?p=4917#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/c077878d566b372738cd23999a2ff764.webp\",\"articleSection\":[\"Apple\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\\\/?p=4917#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\\\/?p=4917\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\\\/?p=4917\",\"name\":\"OpenAI fires back at Apple, publishing private emails to counter trade-secret claims - Cross Country Moving Team\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\\\/?p=4917#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\\\/?p=4917#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/c077878d566b372738cd23999a2ff764.webp\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-08-04T21:17:18+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/1b8121bfb9a1c55d1fff3fca675fceaa\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\\\/?p=4917#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\\\/?p=4917\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\\\/?p=4917#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/c077878d566b372738cd23999a2ff764.webp\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/c077878d566b372738cd23999a2ff764.webp\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":600},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\\\/?p=4917#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"OpenAI fires back at Apple, publishing private emails to counter trade-secret claims\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"Cross Country Moving Team\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/1b8121bfb9a1c55d1fff3fca675fceaa\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\\\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"OpenAI fires back at Apple, publishing private emails to counter trade-secret claims - Cross Country Moving Team","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=4917","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"OpenAI fires back at Apple, publishing private emails to counter trade-secret claims - Cross Country Moving Team","og_description":"Apple is asking a judge to halt OpenAI\u2019s use of alleged trade secrets and speed up discovery.","og_url":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=4917","og_site_name":"Cross Country Moving Team","article_published_time":"2026-08-04T21:17:18+00:00","author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=4917#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=4917"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/#\/schema\/person\/1b8121bfb9a1c55d1fff3fca675fceaa"},"headline":"OpenAI fires back at Apple, publishing private emails to counter trade-secret claims","datePublished":"2026-08-04T21:17:18+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=4917"},"wordCount":605,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=4917#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/c077878d566b372738cd23999a2ff764.webp","articleSection":["Apple"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=4917#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=4917","url":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=4917","name":"OpenAI fires back at Apple, publishing private emails to counter trade-secret claims - Cross Country Moving Team","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=4917#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=4917#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/c077878d566b372738cd23999a2ff764.webp","datePublished":"2026-08-04T21:17:18+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/#\/schema\/person\/1b8121bfb9a1c55d1fff3fca675fceaa"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=4917#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=4917"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=4917#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/c077878d566b372738cd23999a2ff764.webp","contentUrl":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/c077878d566b372738cd23999a2ff764.webp","width":1200,"height":600},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=4917#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"OpenAI fires back at Apple, publishing private emails to counter trade-secret claims"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/","name":"Cross Country Moving Team","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/#\/schema\/person\/1b8121bfb9a1c55d1fff3fca675fceaa","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com"],"url":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4917","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4917"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4917\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4916"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4917"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4917"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4917"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}