Discovery before the body

The Apple–OpenAI trade-secret case has shifted from a perimeter argument to a workshop argument. In a joint filing made public this week, Apple asks Judge Edward J. Davila to let its own forensic experts examine the device images OpenAI’s experts have already used, and to force early production of OpenAI records on metal finishes, power management, and battery work. OpenAI answers that the R&D demand is overbroad and “an apparent attempt to snoop on a competitor.” The injunction, early-discovery, and dismissal motions are set for the same San Jose morning on 14 October — 137 days, by OpenAI’s own calendar, before the end of February 2027, the earliest shipping date its lawyers have put on the first device.

1. 01Apple sued OpenAI, io Products, former Apple engineer Chang Liu, and OpenAI hardware chief Tang Yew Tan in July 2026 (N.D. Cal.), alleging trade-secret misappropriation tied to OpenAI’s consumer hardware push.Apple complaint / 9to5Mac
2. 02A joint submission on expedited discovery, produced after a 14 September status conference and made public around 21–22 September, shows Apple seeking direct access to forensic images the defence has already analysed, plus early OpenAI documents on metal finishes, power management, and battery functionality.9to5Mac, 21 Sep 2026; Gadgets Now, 22 Sep 2026
3. 03OpenAI proposes a neutral forensic expert under a joint protocol for the images, and ordinary merits discovery for the R&D requests, arguing Apple would see trade secrets before Apple has fully defined its own asserted secrets.Joint filing via open reporting
4. 04Apple’s forensic expert disputes defence conclusions that 37 Apple files on a Mac mini were unused because they appear as zero-byte entries or lack a last-used metadata stamp — a fight about how macOS and cloud placeholders work, not only about Liu.9to5Mac / Gadgets Now
5. 05OpenAI’s lawyers put the earliest ship date for its first hardware product at the end of February 2027, citing a declaration from a related trademark matter; Apple argues delay lets alleged secrets entangle further with the product.Gadgets Now, 22 Sep 2026
6. 06Judge Davila moved the combined hearing on Apple’s preliminary injunction, Apple’s discovery motion, and OpenAI’s motion to dismiss from 1 October to 14 October 2026.Court calendar via open reporting

We assess, with moderate confidence, that this week’s file is not a side dispute about metadata. It is the first serious test of whether Apple can use civil discovery as a product brake on a rival’s unfinished device. A plaintiff that can force early inspection of finishes, batteries, and power stacks does not need a final injunction to change an engineering calendar. A defendant that framed its metal and battery work as independently developed invited the demand it now calls snooping.

The forensic quarrel matters because it is the credibility fight underneath the injunction. If Apple’s experts are right that zero-byte and empty last-used fields do not prove non-use, OpenAI’s clean-hands narrative frays. If they are wrong, Apple looks like a company fishing for a competitor’s notebooks under the cover of an employee case.

Operators should treat 14 October as an intelligence date, not a legal curiosity. The branch is simple: discovery narrowed and delayed, or discovery that opens the workshop. Only one of those paths leaves OpenAI’s hardware timeline intact.

• Hardware timelines at model labs are now legal timelines. Capex and industrial design share a docket.
• Any company hiring heavily from Apple into a device programme should assume exit hygiene and interview artefacts will be exhibits, not HR footnotes.
• Microsoft’s OpenAI exposure gains another conflict surface: distribution partner, cloud landlord, and now co-traveller to a defendant in Apple’s hardware war.
• Settlements that trade silence for schedule may become more valuable than verdicts that trade years.

If your stack, investment, or procurement assumes an OpenAI device in 2027, write the branch now: workshop opened before ship versus workshop closed until ordinary discovery. Do not wait for the recap. Revisit counterparty risk for OpenAI the same way you revisit Apple event risk — on the hearing date, not after the blog posts.

• 14 October: whether Davila grants Apple’s experts direct image access, orders early R&D production, or keeps both on the ordinary track.
• Any narrowing of Apple’s asserted trade-secret list — vagueness is OpenAI’s strongest sequencing argument.
• Language from either side about February 2027 ship remaining intact after the order.
• Whether Apple’s ChatGPT / OpenAI integrations stay quiet while the case heats.

• 9to5Mac — 21 Sep 2026 joint filing on forensic images and hardware R&D
• Gadgets Now — 22 Sep 2026 hearing date, ship calendar, zero-byte dispute
• Apple complaint — July 2026 trade-secret action against OpenAI / io / named individuals