Apple’s trade-secrets case against OpenAI now has a destination: a trial scheduled to begin on July 19, 2027, giving both companies more than a year to press competing accounts of what happened after two prominent Apple veterans moved to the ChatGPT maker.¹

The dispute began with Apple’s allegations against Chang Liu, a former iPhone engineer, and Tang Tan, a 25-year Apple veteran who is now OpenAI’s chief hardware officer. Apple says the pair took or sought confidential information involving unreleased technologies, processes and products to support OpenAI’s hardware ambitions. It has also sought a preliminary injunction that would prevent Liu, Tan and OpenAI from accessing, using or disclosing the material while the case proceeds.²

Apple’s complaint alleges that Liu kept a company computer, accessed cloud storage after leaving and downloaded confidential files. It further claims Tan solicited confidential details from Apple employees during OpenAI recruitment, including requests that candidates show components they had worked on.²

OpenAI has answered not with a court filing alone but with a public release of emails and messages, calling Apple’s lawsuit “careless, aggressive, and oddly personal.”² In its own account, OpenAI says Apple’s injunction request rests on “false information” and is unnecessary because it does not have — and does not want — Apple’s trade secrets.³

The company says Liu’s alleged post-departure access reflected Apple’s failure to remove access properly, rather than an effort to obtain files, and maintains that Tan made clear OpenAI must not use confidential information from other companies. It also says Apple’s lawyers initially contacted the wrong person before escalating the dispute.²

That leaves a long legal runway before 2027: Apple is framing the case as a protection of its product pipeline; OpenAI is framing it as a flawed accusation amplified in public. The trial date ensures neither version will disappear quickly.