I opened the court filing and felt my assumptions tilt. The document described a former Apple engineer, an Apple-issued MacBook and a “highly confidential” circuit schematic that allegedly left Cupertino for OpenAI. You can almost hear the quiet panic of teams realizing a quiet file might have become a legal bomb.
On a March afternoon, a text message showed an engineer had run simulations on an Apple laptop
I’ve read a lot of legal filings; this one lands like a clear accusation. Apple’s brief filed in the Northern District of California says Chang Liu, who left Apple for OpenAI in January, copied a secret Apple circuit schematic to his company machine and uploaded it into LTspice, the circuit simulation software engineers use to test designs before building hardware.
Apple says the schematic was highly confidential. The company claims Liu used his Apple-issued MacBook for the download and then deployed an AI agent to autonomously run the LTspice simulations—an allegation Apple frames as especially dangerous because, in their words, feeding trade-secret inputs into agents or models can create “irreversible and continually propagating uses” of that secret. The MacBook, Apple argues, has become a smoking gun.
Did an OpenAI employee steal Apple trade secrets?
Apple says yes; OpenAI says no. According to Apple, the evidence came from the laptop OpenAI turned over six weeks after the suit was filed. OpenAI’s public response last month called Apple’s claims “meritless,” blamed Apple’s struggles retaining talent and integrating AI, and defended Liu as someone helping colleagues through departure processes. I hear two different readings of the same facts: one legal, one reputational.
At a desk in June, messages between colleagues hinted at data deletion plans
The filing points to June messages—between Liu and an OpenAI colleague, Yu-Ting Peng—about destroying forensic traces Apple might need. That’s where the case veers from alleged copying to potential cover-up.
Apple also asks the court to seize Liu’s Mac Mini, which it alleges powered the LTspice simulations, and it pressed for expedited discovery because, it says, the “full scope of [his] misconduct remains unknown.” OpenAI pushed back, arguing that Apple hasn’t identified a specific trade secret that Tang Tan or others disclosed that would trigger the federal Defend Trade Secrets Act (DTSA).
What is LTspice and why does it matter?
LTspice is a free simulation tool from Analog Devices commonly used to model circuits. If an engineer uploads a proprietary schematic there, they can test performance and iterate without building physical prototypes. Apple worries that running a secret design through software, then through an AI agent, could let the design be reproduced or its learnings absorbed into models, creating a slow-running sinkhole that keeps leaking proprietary know-how.
In July, filings from both companies turned a private spat into public lawfare
Once the complaint was filed on July 10, the duel intensified. Apple sought expedited discovery; OpenAI labeled the suit a distraction tied to talent competition. The brief cites Bloomberg Law documentation and media outlets such as Gizmodo picked up OpenAI’s response. Apple also named Tang Tan, another ex-Apple hire, accusing him of encouraging departing employees to discuss confidential topics during interviews with OpenAI—an accusation OpenAI says lacks a specific trade-secret identification.
For you watching this play out, the legal stakes are straightforward: Apple wants to stop dissemination and probe the extent of leakage; OpenAI wants to fend off claims that hiring talent equals theft. The court’s decisions on expedited discovery and what constitutes a trade-secret disclosure to an AI model will shape how tech firms hire and how engineers move between rivals.
I’ve walked through filings, messages, and public statements so you can spot the fault lines: alleged file transfer, claimed use of an AI agent, and possible efforts to erase traces. The only certainty is that both companies have moved from private HR drama to a legal battlefield—do you think this will change how engineers carry their laptops between jobs?