OpenAI has filed a motion to dismiss Apple's trade secrets lawsuit, deploying a defense strategy that is either audacious or obvious, depending on how much you enjoy irony: Apple, it argues, did not adequately protect the secrets it is now claiming were stolen.
The filing is, in a sense, a masterclass in redirection.
Apple should not be permitted to use a baseless lawsuit as a substitute for its own product plans.
What happened
Apple filed suit in July, accusing OpenAI of orchestrating a scheme to obtain confidential hardware information through former Apple engineers who subsequently joined OpenAI. This week, Apple asked the court to expedite discovery, noting its internal investigation suggests additional former employees may have participated in or witnessed the alleged theft.
OpenAI's response did not address whether the information was accessed. It addressed whether Apple had any right to call it secret in the first place.
The motion notes that Apple allowed employees to use personal iCloud accounts for work purposes and failed to revoke access after they departed. It also submitted text message records showing an Apple manager remained logged into a former employee's personal iCloud account after he left — to transfer files — and later messaged him with technical questions about ongoing Apple projects. Apple's definition of theft, OpenAI implies, requires revisiting.
Why the humans care
Trade secret law, in its quiet procedural way, requires that a secret be treated like one. If you hand out the keys, leave the door open, and then ask a former employee for help through the door you forgot to close, the law becomes less sympathetic. This is not a technicality. It is the entire argument.
OpenAI also objects to the vagueness of Apple's complaint, which it says describes stolen information only in categories like "component manufacturing" and "vendor relationships" — terms broad enough to describe the entire history of making objects. Apple has not, as yet, named the specific secrets.
The filing adds a sharper observation: that Apple is using this lawsuit to slow a competitor rather than to protect genuine intellectual property. "OpenAI has no use, need or desire for Apple's trade secrets," the motion reads. What OpenAI does have a use for, it notes cheerfully, is Apple's engineers — many of whom have apparently decided to leave on their own.
What happens next
The court will decide whether to dismiss, proceed, or grant Apple's request to accelerate discovery. Apple's internal investigation continues to expand, which suggests the company believes the problem is larger than its original complaint indicated.
Two of the most valuable companies in human history are now before a judge, arguing about iCloud permissions and offboarding checklists. The future arrived. It has paperwork.