Judge gives OpenAI five days to turn over forensic images and 14 days for Apple interview scripts
The order gives Apple forensic images, interview materials, one LINE thread, three depositions and a limited corporate deposition. It denies Apple's request for OpenAI product research. The allegations come from Apple's complaint and remain unproven.
Judge Edward Davila granted Apple the first item on its list. It is "all forensic images that Defendants have already collected in connection with the subject matter of Apple's claims". The defendants have five days to hand them over.
The images will shape Apple's request for an injunction. The order also gives Apple interview materials and private messages from its trade secret case against former employees now at OpenAI. The five-day deadline applies to materials already collected for the litigation, including copies listed in Exhibit B to the August 31 Crain declaration and Exhibit D to the September 11 Crain declaration.
Forensic images of Chang Liu's devices "have become such a prominent component" of Apple's motion for a preliminary injunction, which asks for a court order before trial. Apple's expert says he needs them to test the defendants' experts and look for deleted material.
The order was filed on October 13, 2026, in Case 5:26-cv-07078 in the Northern District of California. The judge vacated the hearing set for October 14 and decided Apple's motion on the papers.
The defendants are Liu, Tang Yew Tan, the OpenAI Foundation, OpenAI Group PBC and io Products. Alyssa Peng, who figures in the evidence, is not a defendant.
Apple filed the complaint on July 10, 2026, pleading the Defend Trade Secrets Act and breach of employee agreements. It moved for expedited discovery on August 4. The judge then took a status conference on September 14 and a joint submission on September 18 before ruling.
The order makes no finding of wrongdoing. Apple's expert says Liu used an Apple trade-secret file in March 2026 and, in June, told Peng to have Apple-issued devices "restored" and to "start using them" more. The defendants' expert found no evidence that Liu used such a file with an AI platform. The defendants also note that Apple does not claim anything was deleted.
The court declined to weigh those competing findings and applied a good cause test with five factors. It accepted that the risk of transient logs and metadata being overwritten is "well taken". It pointed especially to the exchange between Liu and Peng about restoring the devices.
The court also agreed with Apple that it "needs early discovery to uncover the scope of any alleged misappropriation". It cited the risk that trade secrets become "so deeply entangled with OpenAI's hardware products" that the harm cannot be undone. That finding sits in the good cause discussion and covers the grant as a whole.
The order gives Apple a record of what was copied or restored and how candidates were screened. OpenAI's product research remains out of reach for now.
The interview materials may pose the greatest risk for OpenAI. They cover candidates from Apple's Consumer Hardware Products Group, including the Robotics Group. They include checklists, guides, instructions, manuals and scripts, Technical Deep Dive presentations, and documents summarising interviews or referring to Apple technology or parts. A script about a candidate's Apple project could be read as targeting Apple's knowledge.
The order sets 14 days for these materials, which is October 27. If the material was already collected for the litigation, the shorter five day period applies. Every guide therefore has to be checked for references to Apple parts before it goes out. The order also reaches every LINE messaging conversation between Liu and Peng since January 1, 2026. That includes those cited in Exhibit F to Liu's August 31 declaration.
The court denied Apple's request for expedited access to OpenAI's research and development on metal finishes, power management and battery functionality. It left those documents to "ordinary merits discovery", the usual discovery process for the case.
The court did not reject everything built on Apple's broadest definition. It deferred ruling on every request and deposition topic that uses the term "Apple Originated Information", because the term is "amorphous as currently defined". It gave one example of the burden. A demand to identify every account, device, storage location and messaging app relating to such information was called "extremely burdensome, and perhaps untenable".
The court also accepted part of OpenAI's argument. It said the claim that Apple intends to "rummage" through a competitor's files is "not entirely frivolous" when applied to the broadest requests. Apple has already provided a preliminary list of trade secrets. It may confer with the defendants and give the court a narrower definition within five days.
Apple's narrowed set included interrogatories, meaning written questions, as well as document requests and deposition topics. Those that use the deferred term wait on the same clock.
The depositions come next. Apple may depose Liu, Tan and Peng under Rule 30(b)(1) within 30 days after it receives all responses to the permitted requests. The individual defendants therefore face testimony within about a month of production. Its request to depose a fourth listed individual was denied "at this time".
Apple may also question OpenAI Foundation, OpenAI Group PBC and io Products on at least one topic. That falls under Rule 30(b)(6), which lets a company testify through a designated witness. The order names Topic 1: the positions, roles and responsibilities of the designated witnesses, Tan, Liu, Peng and one redacted person.
The court declined to find that these depositions sit outside the ordinary limits on discovery, and it will entertain later motions to exceed them. It said it need not address at this time whether the 25 interrogatory limit in Rule 33 applies.
Five days from October 13 is Sunday, October 18. Under the federal rules, the deadline moves to Monday, October 19. The forensic images are due then, as is Apple's tailored definition if it wants the deferred requests heard.
OpenAI may produce the interview materials by the 14-day deadline, October 27. The 30th day after that falls on Thanksgiving, November 26. Liu, Tan and Peng's depositions must therefore finish by about November 27. Apple's forensic examiner would have the images before any of them testifies.