The legal fight between Apple and OpenAI will only be heating up, with the courts recently setting a trial date for the ongoing legal tussle. This legal fight started after Apple claimed that OpenAI and two of its ex-employees had used its trade secrets to aid in the development of OpenAI’s hardware products. However, OpenAI has denied these claims outright and assured full cooperation to the court. The AI agent also handed over all the files regarding the case in good faith and promised not to use any trade secrets by Apple. Here is everything you need to know about the feud between Apple and OpenAI in five easy points.
Apple filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, along with its two former employees, Tang Tan and Chang Liu, back in July 2026. In the lawsuit filed, the tech giant argues that the two have misused their knowledge and information about Apple products to assist OpenAI in developing its own hardware products. They further added that this has provided a backdoor entry for OpenAI in a market dominated by Apple for a considerable time.
OpenAI has strongly denied the allegations, stating that the ex-Apple employees did not make use of any confidential documents or inside information to aid OpenAI. Not only that, but the AI company has also challenged the allegations made by the Cupertino-based tech giant that it did not take the complaints regarding the misuse seriously.
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To help ease the court’s concerns, OpenAI promised that it will not use any of Apple’s trade secrets in its work. Moreover, the company also handed over copies of the computer drives belonging to 14 former Apple employees now working at OpenAI so they could be independently checked.
Following the data sharing, Apple narrowed its requests so that they can focus only on former employees hired by OpenAI. The judge agreed to allow more information to be exchanged, which includes phones and computers, messaging accounts, AI tools, job interviews, and how OpenAI handled Apple’s private information.
In the latest development, Judge Davila has fixed the trial for July 19, 2027, at 9:00 am PST, which is equivalent to 9:30 pm IST on the same day. The collection of facts for the trial would be completed by March, and the pre-trial hearing would take place on June 24. In addition to that, the lawyers representing both the parties are going to meet on June 1, 2027, to discuss a settlement. It should, however, be noted that this is a standard procedure in such cases.