The start-up said Apple “never raised the specific allegations in this lawsuit at that time” and “in fact told us that they were ‘resolving any issues.’ We then heard nothing for five months until they sued.”

Apple alleged in its lawsuit that Chang Liu, a former employee who worked on some of its “most sensitive product development programs,” accessed Apple’s trade secrets after leaving the company in January.

However OpenAI said Apple employees had themselves contacted Liu “and asked for his help to locate this information,” something the iPhone maker “only now admits.”

Apple also named in its lawsuit a second former employee, OpenAI’s chief hardware officer, Tang Tan, whom it accused of seeking out proprietary information when interviewing Apple’s employees.

“Tang has always been clear with the team that we do not want, and must not use, any confidential information from other companies,” wrote OpenAI.

Apple on Monday sought a preliminary injunction in the US to prevent former employees and OpenAI from accessing, using, or disclosing its trade secrets. It also filed a second motion asking the court to expedite discovery and order several OpenAI employees, including Liu and Tan, to sit for depositions.

OpenAI said Apple’s request for a preliminary injunction was “both based on false information and completely unnecessary because we do not have, nor want, any of their trade secrets.”

“Apple is one of the greatest companies of all time, and built a reputation for obsessing over the smallest details. This careless, aggressive and oddly personal lawsuit sadly doesn’t live up to that reputation,” the ChatGPT maker wrote.

Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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