Apple's legal fight with OpenAI has moved into a sharper phase after the company submitted new allegations tied to a former employee's old Apple work laptop.
In the lawsuit, Apple says the MacBook turned over by legal counsel for Chang Liu, a former Apple employee who now works at OpenAI, contains what Apple describes as "shocking evidence." The company argues that the material supports its claim that former employees stole trade secrets for OpenAI's benefit.
What Apple says the laptop showed
The new claims center on information Apple says came from Liu's old Apple work laptop after it was provided for investigation earlier this month. According to Apple, the laptop points to the use of a confidential Apple circuit schematic in Liu's work at OpenAI.
Apple also alleges that Liu used a tool that shares a name with an internal Apple engineering application. The details of the new evidence are redacted from public view, so the public record does not show the underlying material Apple says supports those claims.
Apple's position is that the laptop is not a speculative lead. In the filing, the company says: "The MacBook represents the very limited information Defendants provided so far (and only after weeks of delay), and shows Apple is not conducting ‘fishing expeditions’ but that its trade secrets are being used and evidence is being destroyed,"
That language matters because Apple is trying to persuade the court that it needs urgent help. The company is not only alleging past misconduct. It is arguing that evidence handling and ongoing work at OpenAI require faster court intervention.
The dispute over residual access
A central part of the case is how Liu still had access to Apple files after leaving the company. OpenAI has previously defended Liu by saying he accessed Apple files after his Apple employment ended in order to help former colleagues who had asked for assistance.
OpenAI also argued in a blog post earlier this month that Apple was trying to move blame onto "residual access." OpenAI wrote that this was "a common issue with Apple which is caused by them failing to properly manage system access when people leave,"
Apple's response is different. The company claims Liu's continued access was not simply a routine offboarding failure. Apple says Liu continued to access material because he “exploited a rare, previously unknown authentication bug."
Those two explanations frame the dispute in very different ways. If the access was an internal controls problem, the focus shifts toward Apple's own systems and offboarding process. If the access came through exploitation of an authentication bug, Apple can argue the conduct was more active and more serious.
Why evidence destruction is now part of the case
Apple is also alleging that Liu tried to destroy evidence. The company claims Liu enlisted OpenAI colleague Yu-Ting Peng to help destroy evidence in June after Liu learned Apple was investigating him.
The public filings do not reveal all of the newly cited material because it is redacted. But the source article notes that earlier Apple filings included text messages from Liu, punctuated with "crying laughing" emojis, showing he knew he still had access to Apple files.
That detail is important to Apple's broader argument. The company is trying to show the court that the case is not limited to a technical disagreement over access rights. Apple is presenting a narrative in which confidential files, awareness of continued access, and alleged evidence destruction are connected.
OpenAI has been asked for comment on Apple's newest allegations. The source article states that TechCrunch requested comment from OpenAI.
What Apple wants from the court
Apple is seeking a preliminary injunction. In practical terms, that would be a court order blocking OpenAI from working on hardware based on Apple's technology while the case continues.
Apple is also asking for expedited discovery. That would speed up the process of gathering evidence, which Apple says is needed because the company alleges that more former employees may also be implicated.
The scale of employee movement between the companies is one reason the discovery request matters. According to Apple's initial filing, more than 400 former Apple employees now work at OpenAI.
That number does not prove wrongdoing by itself. But in Apple's argument, it raises the stakes around what information moved, who had access to it, and whether OpenAI knew enough about Liu's Apple access to act differently.
The larger stakes for OpenAI and Apple
The case sits at the intersection of trade secrets, employee mobility, and AI hardware ambitions. Based on Apple's allegations, the company is not only concerned about one former worker's files. It is asking whether confidential Apple engineering material may be influencing work inside OpenAI.
For OpenAI, the allegations create a direct challenge around how it handles employees who arrive from major technology companies with sensitive prior work experience. The company's public position, as described in the source article, is that Liu's access was tied to Apple's failure to properly manage system access when people leave.
For Apple, the court fight is about protecting internal engineering knowledge while trying to obtain more evidence quickly. The company is asking the court to treat the matter as urgent because it says trade secrets are being used and evidence is being destroyed.
Because the newest evidence is redacted, the public cannot evaluate the underlying technical details. What is clear from the filing described in the source article is that Apple is using the MacBook investigation to push for stronger and faster court action against OpenAI.