A federal district judge will oversee Apple’s lawsuit accusing OpenAI of using stolen intellectual property to advance its hardware efforts.
In early July, Apple sued OpenAI after alleging that two ex-employees successfully stole intellectual property to enrich OpenAI’s development efforts. Now, on Thursday, a judge has been assigned to the case.
Initially, when the suit was first filed, it was randomly assigned to Magistrate Judge Virginia K. DeMarchi. Now, it seems as though U.S. District Judge Edward Davila will oversee the case.
As 9to5Mac notes, each party was given the choice whether to allow the magistrate judge to sit the case. Apple appears to be the party that declined, instead opting to reassign the case to a district judge.
The case’s previous initial case management conference had been scheduled for October 13. However, it will now need to be rescheduled before Judge Davila.
Maintained intellectual property theft
Apple’s argument against OpenAI hinges on its argument that two previous employees had been stealing intellectual property for quite some time. The two employees are Chang Liu and Tang Yew Tan, the former Vice President of Product Design for iPhone and Apple Watch.
Reportedly, Liu failed to return Apple-issued hardware that was still authenticated to access Apple’s networks. He allegedly told a colleague, Yu-Ting “Alyssa” Peng, still at Apple, that he was planning to access Apple information.
Tan, however, allegedly began emailing himself information about Apple suppliers months before he left to serve as OpenAI’s Chief Hardware Officer. He also allegedly directed candidates to bring unreleased hardware components from Apple to their interviews with OpenAI.
Apple believes this was part of a concerted effort to take and use confidential information. Apple is seeking judgment, an injunction against use and possession of Apple’s intellectual property, a return of Apple’s property, damages, and royalties for use of Apple’s intellectual property.
