Apple raises evidence-destruction claims against OpenAI
Apple has accused OpenAI of destroying evidence in their trade-secret dispute, citing a forensic review of a former Apple engineer’s company-issued MacBook as it presses a federal court to accelerate evidence gathering. The allegation was set out in a filing on Monday in the US District Court for the Northern District of California, where Apple is suing OpenAI, io Products and former employees…
Yesterday, OpenAI launched a trade secret dispute against Apple, describing it as a "mess of Apple's own making." The tech giant claims that two of its former employees, Chang Liu and Tang Tan, stole trade secrets relating to hardware design as they moved from Apple to OpenAI. Liu allegedly accessed confidential engineering files from Apple's MacBook to assist OpenAI in developing an AI hardware device.
Apple has obtained a MacBook belonging to Liu to conduct a forensic analysis to determine if there is any evidence of unlawful access to Apple's intellectual property. In response, OpenAI strongly defended itself in its legal filing, stating that Apple's situation is the result of its own poor procedures. The company argues that employees have the right to change jobs, and Apple's failure to protect sensitive information appropriately does not make the new employers' actions unlawful.
OpenAI's filing highlights three issues: Apple's lack of proper protection for its confidential information, which could prove that the information is a trade secret, and OpenAI's claim that Apple's actions are the cause of the situation. If OpenAI can demonstrate that Apple did not adequately protect the information, the AI company might prevail even if use of the information is proven.
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