The ongoing Apple-OpenAI lawsuit of alleged trade secrets theft continues, with OpenAI today filing a motion to have the case dismissed by a federal judge. OpenAI said Apple’s complaint was “filed without adequate investigation” and framed “ordinary conduct” out of context.
Meanwhile, Apple is currently pressing for a preliminary injunction, which will be heard in court on October 1. The larger case could take years to resolve.
In the motion to dismiss, OpenAI is attempting to have the whole thing thrown out early. It argues that Apple failed to meet the legal standard of presenting that it has tangible trade secrets, or that Apple failed to plausibly allege any improper conduct.
It says that Apple’s examples of former employees discussing confidential information was mischaracterised. It references iMessage conversations that it also posted on its website earlier this week.
OpenAI say these messages show that Chang Liu, one of the people named in the original suit, was asked by Apple employees to retrieve information, not that he was doing so for OpenAI’s benefit. It says Apple “does not allege that Mr. Liu ever disclosed a file to OpenAI or used one in OpenAI’s hardware work”.
