Authored by Bill Pan via The Epoch Times,
OpenAI has pushed back against Apple's accusations that it stole the iPhone maker's hardware secrets, blaming the dispute on Apple's own handling of departing employees.
In a court filing on Monday, OpenAI asked a federal judge to deny Apple's request for a preliminary injunction, which would bar the ChatGPT maker and two former Apple employees from accessing, using, or disclosing alleged trade secrets while the case proceeds.
"This dispute is a mess of Apple's own making, and it is trying to blame everyone else," OpenAI said in the filing.
Apple sued OpenAI in July in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.
The company accused OpenAI and former Apple employees Tang Tan and Chang Liu of misusing confidential information related to hardware design, manufacturing, and supply-chain operations.
Tan, who spent 24 years at Apple and previously served as vice president of product design for the iPhone and Apple Watch, is now OpenAI's chief hardware officer.
Liu, a former senior systems electrical engineer at Apple, now serves on OpenAI's technical staff.
In its complaint, Apple alleged that Tan used confidential project code names during interviews. It also claimed he asked at least one candidate to bring "actual parts" they had worked on at Apple for a "show and tell" session.
Apple further alleged that Liu continued to access company files after leaving by exploiting what it descri
