The lawsuit and OpenAI’s response suggest both sides have dug in, setting the stage for what could become a protracted, high-stakes legal battle.
- Apple’s lawsuit is to make up for its own “shortcomings in the market for talent and retaining its employees, and its failures to integrate AI into its products,” OpenAI said in a court response.
- Last month, Apple sued OpenAI and two former Apple employees, both now working for OpenAI, alleging misappropriation of its trade secrets.
- On Stocktwits, retail sentiment was ‘bearish’ for OPEAZZX and ‘extremely bullish’ for AAPL and ANTHZZX.
OpenAI has asked a court to dismiss Apple’s lawsuit accusing the AI company of stealing trade secrets, arguing in a forceful filing that Apple is attempting to deflect attention from its own shortcomings by reshaping the narrative.
Lawyers for OpenAI said that Apple’s suit falsely portrays the actions of the startup’s employees, according to a Bloomberg report.
The ChatGPT maker’s top hardware executive acted in line with industrywide recruiting standards when interviewing Apple employees, and a worker accused of theft was actually trying to assist a former colleague at Apple, they said.
OpenAI Calls Apple’s Claims ‘Baseless’
“Apple should not be permitted to use a baseless and pretextual lawsuit to make up for its shortcomings in the market for talent and retaining its employees, and its failures to integrate AI into its products,” OpenAI said in its response in the court, according to excerpts shared by Bloomberg reporter Mark Gurman on X.
“Apple’s complaint is — to borrow its own phrase — ‘rotten to its core,’” they wrote.
The lawsuit and OpenAI’s response suggest both sides have dug in, setting the stage for what could become a protracted, high-stakes legal battle.
Last month, Apple sued OpenAI and two former Apple employees, both now working for OpenAI, alleging misappropriation of its trade secrets. Apple claims that OpenAI encouraged Apple employees to share information, components, drawings, and other materials related to upcoming products — as part of the AI company’s efforts to develop its own suite of devices.
OpenAI’s Rebuttal To Challenge Apple’s Timeline
Earlier, OpenAI accused Apple of misrepresenting key facts, saying the iPhone maker initially claimed the AI company had ignored its outreach before later admitting its outside lawyers had emailed the wrong person after confusing two employees with similar Asian last names.
In its lengthy rebuttal, OpenAI shared internal text messages and emails between OpenAI and Apple executives. It also said Apple had incorrectly asserted that it discussed the allegations with the company’s general counsel, only to later concede that no such conversation had taken place.
OpenAI also defended Tang Tan, the former Apple executive at the center of the lawsuit, saying he had repeatedly instructed employees not to bring or use confidential information from previous employers.
The company described Tan, who spent more than two decades at Apple, as one of the company’s most respected product leaders and said it neither possessed nor wanted Apple’s trade secrets.
OpenAI Vs Apple: Why Wall Street Is Watching The Case
The latest developments in the lawsuit point to an escalating feud. OpenAI, which faces increasing market pressure from Anthropic, could face some complications in its planned initial public offering (IPO) should the lawsuit drag on. However, there are no indications that the legal disputes have altered its listing plans.
Investors are closely watching developments at OpenAI as it moves toward a public listing, setting up a potential IPO showdown with chief rival Anthropic. Both companies confidentially filed IPO paperwork with regulators in May, before reports emerged that OpenAI may delay its listing until next year rather than the previously expected fourth-quarter timeline.
OpenAI now broadly trails Anthropic, based on the most recently disclosed numbers. In April, Anthropic said it tripled its annual revenue run rate to $30 billion, surpassing OpenAI’s ARR of about $24 billion. Anthropic is valued at $1.12 trillion, compared to OpenAI’s private market valuation of $858.97 billion, according to data from Nasdaq Private Market.
On Stocktwits, retail sentiment was ‘bearish’ for OPEAZZX and ‘extremely bullish’ for AAPL and ANTHZZX.
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