Judge Edward Davila has granted Apple expedited access to some forensic and recruitment evidence in its trade-secrets dispute with OpenAI, while denying Apple access to OpenAI's hardware research. These are allegations on both sides; no court has ruled on the merits.
The claims run in both directions. OpenAI alleges that an employee who left for Apple sent more than 100 files relating to an unreleased product to personal accounts. Apple alleges that a former engineer, Chang Liu, exploited an authentication flaw before leaving in January 2026.
The split in the ruling is the part worth noting. Apple gets forensic and recruitment material - the evidence about who moved and what they took. It does not get OpenAI's hardware research, which is the evidence about what OpenAI is building. That line matters because both companies are now reportedly working on AI hardware, and discovery in a trade-secrets case is one of the few mechanisms that would otherwise let a competitor read a rival's roadmap under oath.