On October 13, 2026, Federal Judge Edward Davila of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California issued a ruling granting in part Apple’s emergency discovery motion in its trade secret lawsuit targeting OpenAI filed in July 2026. The ruling allows Apple access to sensitive recruitment records regarding its former engineers who left to join OpenAI’s hardware device project.
Under the court order, OpenAI has been set a deadline of 5 days to hand over collected documents and up to 14 days for all remaining documents within the approved categories. The scope of accessible documents includes interview questionnaires, internal onboarding documents, technical presentations, and any interview notes referring to Apple-owned technology or hardware components.
Text message evidence and executive testimony
In addition to interview records, the judge also approved witness depositions and granted access to private LINE messages between key figures named in the lawsuit. This list includes OpenAI’s Head of Hardware Tang Yew Tan and engineers Chang Liu and Alyssa Peng. Notably, all three individuals previously held key engineering roles at Apple before joining OpenAI’s consumer hardware and robotics division.
However, the court denied Apple’s request to expand discovery into OpenAI’s deep research and development areas, such as metal processing technology and battery power management systems. Judge Davila found the request overly broad at this stage, leaving open the possibility for Apple to refile if it narrows the scope to more relevant evidence.
Confrontation as the boundary between AI and hardware blurs
Legal tensions between Apple and OpenAI erupted as the ChatGPT creator prepares to develop its first line of consumer hardware devices, aiming to reshape how users interact with digital services and compete directly with smartphones. In its original complaint, Apple accused a group of former employees of downloading confidential documents regarding technical specifications and unannounced product roadmaps onto laptops, while also advising colleagues on how to bring confidential files when applying to OpenAI.
The latest ruling moves the dispute into the factual discovery phase, forcing OpenAI to bring transparency to its high-tech talent recruitment process. As AI labs seek to turn artificial intelligence into physical devices in users’ hands, legal clashes over intellectual property with established hardware giants like Apple are bound to remain complex and protracted.