Apple has asked a federal judge to bar OpenAI and two former Apple staffers from accessing, using or sharing what it claims are stolen trade secrets, warning the court it faces irreparable harm without a preliminary injunction sought late Monday. OpenAI responded hours later with a blog post branding the suit “careless, aggressive and oddly personal” and accusing Apple of botching basic facts. Apple had claimed it warned OpenAI about the alleged theft in February and received no response, but OpenAI said Apple now admits its outside lawyers emailed the wrong person after confusing two Asian last names. Emails published by OpenAI show Weil, Gotshal & Manges partner Gabriel Gross sent his warning letter to OpenAI general counsel Che Chang instead of a former Apple employee surnamed Wang, and thanked Chang for a phone call that OpenAI says never took place. Gross later apologized and said Wang had offered to cooperate, after which Apple went silent for five months until filing its complaint July 10 in the Northern District of California. The suit accuses OpenAI of running a months-long scheme to loot Apple’s hardware secrets and names Chang Liu, a former senior system electrical engineer, and Tang Yew Tan, Apple’s ex-vice president of product design for the iPhone and Apple Watch, who now leads OpenAI’s hardware effort. Apple claims Liu used a former colleague’s laptop to siphon confidential hardware files after quitting, while Tan allegedly forwarded supplier details to his personal email and coached incoming hires on skirting Apple’s exit process.