Apple Gets a Crack at Checking OpenAI Hiring Records in Trade Secrets Case
The iPhone maker has accused OpenAI of stealing trade secrets by getting its former employees to share data on their personal devices during hiring interviews
Back in the 1980s, the BBC used to air a much-loved political satire called “Yes Minister” where the bureaucrats would explain the importance of timing ministerial statements based on what else is cooking in that particular news cycle. OpenAI appears to be lucky that the story around it catching a spy along with the spyware broke the same day that Apple was granted access to their hiring records.
Coincidence? Not if one were a fan of Sherlock Holmes’ theory that there are none in this world. But, we believe that there can be some incidents that are ‘heaven sent’ like OpenAI identifying the offender on October 9 and FBI taking four days thereafter to bring charges. On the same day that a judge ruled in favour of Apple to get expedited access to OpenAI’s hiring materials in a trade-secret related lawsuit.
Readers would recall that Apple had filed a lawsuit against OpenAI in July alleging misconduct that reveals a pattern of theft from OpenAI employees who had previously worked at Apple. It had accused chief hardware officer Tang Tan of using Apple’s confidential project code names during OpenAI’s recruiting process and asking candidates to bring in their hardware components to such interviews.
Now the judge has specifically noted that Apple would be allowed to view documents associated with OpenAI’s interviews with former Apple employees who sought roles in the consumer hardware and robotics groups of the ChatGPT-maker. The issue caught everyone’s attention as there were rumours of a hardware device coming from OpenAI around that time.
Of course, the company did come out with its first piece of hardware called the Codex Micro on July 15 which functioned as a compact control centre and real-time status monitor designed specifically for the company’s own coding tool Codex.
The court gave OpenAI five days to turn over materials that could include interview checklists, guides, instructions, manuals, and scripts, as well as technical presentations and records. It gave an additional 14 days for any other materials related to this request and agreed with Apple that these documents should be expedited.
It remains to be seen how crucial this lawsuit becomes for OpenAI, which had spoken about releasing a smartphone to beat all other devices in the market and revolving entirely around AI. Of course, there is no way of finding out whether the rumour is just that or there is indeed a team working behind the scenes to get such a device into the market.
However, the US District Judge Edward Davila did not agree to a few other demands made by Apple in the lawsuit that accused OpenAI of using Apple laptops of former employees to download confidential material and files with information about unannounced technologies, features, products and tech specifications and other proprietary project data.
The judge did not accept Apple’s request for access to OpenAI documents and messages relevant to the case but did allow access to the interview records as well as messages between individuals named in the case that includes two specific persons working for OpenAI. The court also approved depositions for OpenAI’s chief hardware officer Tang Yew Tan and two others, who were former Apple employees.
The court denied a request for access to OpenAI’s research and development in specific areas such as metal finishes and power management. The judge also denied several broader discovery requests like access to the latter’s hardware research or data around what its former employees had created while working at OpenAI.
However, there is a catch here. The court isn’t calling the denial as a final act as the Judge has left the door open for Apple to appeal again by narrowing down their demands. So, things could get really hot in there for OpenAI in the next few days.
