Apple’s high-profile lawsuit against OpenAI, which accuses former Apple employees of stealing intellectual property, appears to have one notable omission.
According to reports, Jony Ive, Apple’s former design chief and a key figure in OpenAI’s hardware ambitions, has not been named in the lawsuit.
According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, there are two key reasons why Apple has avoided implicating Ive.
While Ive is the public face of OpenAI’s hardware efforts, his role is said to be focused primarily on product design.
Tang Tan, one of the named defendants in the lawsuit, reportedly has far greater control over the hardware side of the project.
As OpenAI’s Chief Hardware Officer, Tan oversees much of the product’s development, whereas Ive does not have the same level of operational control.
Instead, the lawsuit largely centres on Tan’s alleged actions, including emails that Apple claims were inappropriate and efforts to encourage prospective hires from Apple to bring product prototypes and design materials with them.
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He also notes that Ive shares a close relationship with Laurene Powell Jobs, Steve Jobs’ widow, who continues to maintain strong ties with Apple.
Powell Jobs has remained supportive of Tim Cook and John Ternus, and continues to have a close relationship with the company’s leadership.
Gurman believes that targeting Ive—given his historic role at Apple and his close association with Steve Jobs—could ultimately damage Apple’s own reputation.
Even after leaving Apple in 2019, Ive continued to work with the company as a consultant until 2022.
During that period, several Apple designers also departed to join Ive at his new venture.
Quick Reads View All China's Kimi K3 challenges US AI leaders with frontier-level performance at lower cost Wells Fargo layoffs: Bank cuts 79,000 jobs in 6 years, says AI will drive more workforce reductions Although Ive’s departure was followed by a wave of exits that significantly reshaped Apple’s industrial design team, the company has still chosen not to include him in the lawsuit.
Gurman argues that Apple can continue pursuing its case against OpenAI and its hardware programme without naming Ive, allowing the company to avoid unnecessary reputational fallout while keeping the focus on the employees directly accused of misconduct.
