NDCA Case 3:26-cv-04521 Filed July 10 2026: Apple v. OpenAI, Liu, Tan
The NDCA complaint documents specific interview practices and personnel transfers rather than broad conspiracy claims. It exposes structural overlap between OpenAI's io acquisition and Apple's design teams. Outcome hinges on whether internal codenames and hardware samples meet statutory trade-secret thresholds.
OpenAI's hardware roadmap now depends on the same personnel cohort Apple claims carried confidential specifications. Next procedural step is the August 18 2026 scheduling conference; a protective order on source code and unreleased prototypes is expected within 30 days. If granted, discovery will test whether interview notes and physical samples constitute misappropriated trade secrets under California Civil Code section 3426.
NDCA: protective order granted by August 25 2026 covering unreleased product codenames
Sources (2)
- [1]Complaint 3:26-cv-04521(https://ecf.cand.uscourts.gov)
- [2]io Acquisition SEC Form 8-K(https://sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/0001378590)