❯ OpenAI Publishes Chat Logs to Rebut Apple’s Trade-Secret Charges, Says Apple Employees Asked Ex-Colleague for Files After His Departure

RECORDSOpenAI has responded head-on to the trade-secret lawsuit Apple filed in July, calling the case “rash, aggressive, and oddly personal,” while making clear it neither has nor wants Apple’s trade secrets — and releasing a set of redacted iMessage and email records.

DISPUTEThe core of Apple’s suit is former employee Chang Liu — whose last working day at Apple was January 22, 2026 — and his continued access to confidential information after leaving. OpenAI counters that Apple employees reached out to him after his departure, asking him to help locate materials they needed for daily work. As for the access itself, OpenAI says Apple has not always cleanly revoked system permissions when an employee leaves — a matter of so-called “residual access.” The lawsuit, filed by Apple in July, came after more than a year of steady personnel movement between the two companies around on-device model work. OpenAI also takes a swipe at the other side: Apple’s outside counsel confused two Asian surnames and sent the filing to the wrong recipient, acknowledging the error only after being called out.

OFFBOARDINGWhat this case really exposes is the enforcement gap in how big tech companies revoke departing employees’ access — if the former employer hasn’t cleaned up access properly, and ex-colleagues keep coming back with questions, the line around “misappropriation” gets very hard to draw in court. What legal teams need to add is the offboarding access-audit step, not a few more pages of non-compete clauses. The case will turn on how the court treats this trove of iMessages: if it holds up, the burden of proof swings back onto Apple’s side.

▪ SIGNALThe most damaging evidence in a defendant’s presentation is often the plaintiff’s own messages.