Apple Sues OpenAI, io, and Former Employees, Alleging Theft of Trade Secrets

Chance Miller, 9to5Mac: The lawsuit names Chang Liu and Tang Tan as two of the defendants. Tang Tan served as VP of product design at Apple, leading iPhone and Apple Watch product design. He departed the company in February 2024 to work with Jony Ive. Chang Liu, meanwhile, worked at Apple for eight years and was a senior system electrical engineer before departing to join OpenAI in January 2026. Apple’s lawsuit also names OpenAI and io Products as defendants. OpenAI’s hardware efforts are being led by Jony Ive, Apple’s former chief design officer. OpenAI acquired Ive’s startup io as part of a $6.5 billion deal last year. OpenAI’s takeover of the company included more than 50 engineers, developers, and other employees. In its original announcement, OpenAI touted that Ive founded io in collaboration with Scott Cannon, Evans Hankey, and Tan. Hankey led Apple’s design team for several years after Ive departed the company. She departed in 2022 before reuniting with Ive as part of io. Cannon also previously worked at Apple. Ive, Hankey, and Cannon are not personally mentioned anywhere in Apple’s initial filing today. Here’s a copy of Apple’s complaint I’m hosting . You should read the complaint to form your own opinion on the allegations. The complaint goes so far out of its way to avoid mentioning Ive or Hankey by name that it describes io’s founding thus, on page 4 (italics added): OpenAI and its cohorts have been engaging in a coordinated pattern of misconduct at an institutional level as well. This includes io (which OpenAI acquired), a venture co-founded by Mr. Tan and

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