Link CopyTwitterLinkedinWhatsappApple’s OpenAI Lawsuit Has an Awkward Backstory: A Lawyer’s Email Mix-UpEmails reviewed by NBC News complicate Apple's claim that OpenAI ignored its trade secret warnings before the 10 July filing, and hand OpenAI its first real counterpunch.Apple's trade secret lawsuit against OpenAI, filed on 10 July 2026 in the US District Court for the Northern District of California, rests in part on a claim that has now sprung a leak: that OpenAI "never responded" to Apple's warnings earlier this year. Emails reviewed by NBC News indicate OpenAI did respond in February, and that the exchange bogged down and, according to OpenAI, stopped after an outside attorney representing Apple mixed up the names and email addresses of two OpenAI employees whose surnames were Wang and Chang. One clerical blunder now sits inside the pre-history of a suit in which Apple is seeking damages, a preliminary injunction and a jury trial against the company building a rival device.The Email That Complicated Apple's StoryAbout The AuthorAt heart, I am a storyteller drawn to the watershed moments that bend the technology landscape. I braid narrative with data, humanise statistics, and trace the arc from first spark to world-changing impact. My reportage, features and reviews are witty, sardonic, visual and vivid, using anecdote to illuminate rather than eviscerate.