A US district judge has granted Apple permission to expedite the discovery of recruitment materials from OpenAI as part of an ongoing trade secret lawsuit filed in July. The court ordered OpenAI to provide documents related to job interviews of former Apple employees who applied for positions in its consumer hardware and robotics division.
The required materials include interview scripts, technical manuals, and records that may indicate whether Apple proprietary technology or components were discussed during the hiring process. OpenAI must submit the prioritized documents within five days, with the remaining requested files due within 14 days.
The court also authorized Apple to obtain private chat logs from the LINE messaging app involving OpenAI employees Chang Liu and Alyssa Peng. Furthermore, Judge Edward Davila approved depositions for Liu, Peng, and Tang Yew Tan, who serves as OpenAI's head of hardware; all three are former Apple staff members.
While the judge allowed access to recruitment and communication records, he denied Apple's request for broader discovery, including specific R&D data on power management and metal surface finishing. Apple may submit narrowed requests for these materials in the future.
