Apple Accuses OpenAI's io Products Of Hardware Trade Secret Theft
Court filings name two former Apple hardware engineers as individual co-defendants alongside the OpenAI-backed venture.
- Filed July 10, 2026, in the Northern District of California, case No. 5:26-cv-07078.
- One defendant, surnamed Liu, is named directly in the case caption as a former Apple employee.
- Apple alleges trade secrets tied to unreleased hardware technology were misappropriated by the defendants.
Why it matters: A federal court, not a product lab, will now decide how fast a rival ships hardware.
Apple Inc. v. Liu et al., Complaint, N.D. Cal. No. 5:26-cv-07078 ↗ · Jul 11, 20267/11/26