While Apple has done everything it can to isolate Jony Ive in its lawsuit against OpenAI, the company may not be able to keep its former design chief out of the fight. Here’s why.
OpenAI has the potential to make things very uncomfortable for Apple
in your lawsuit In accusing OpenAI of trade secret theft, Apple went out of its way not to mention Jony Ive, whose company, io Products, partnered with OpenAI to develop the hardware at the center of Apple’s accusations.
At one point, Apple alleges that “OpenAI and its cohorts have been engaging in a coordinated pattern of misconduct at an institutional level,” including io, which it describes only as “a company co-founded by Mr. Tan and other former Apple leaders.” Beyond that, the lawsuit does not mention Ive, Evans Hankey, or any other former Apple executives by name, aside from Tang Tan and Chang Liu, who are directly accused of wrongdoing.
While it might be too early to say whether Ive will be called to the witness stand, that’s certainly a possibility, particularly if OpenAI decides to deploy it to make things painful or uncomfortable for Apple.
That would put Apple in an unusually delicate position. I have been publicly respectful of the company since leaving in 2019, and its public appearances and interviews are often carefully controlled.
That includes appearances. with Laurene Powell Jobs and his continued participation in the Steve Jobs Archive. Earlier this year, I contributed a personal letter to the Archive Letters to a Young Creator Projectwhere he reflected on working with Jobs.
Apple, for its part, appears to have reciprocated that respect, carefully formulating the reversal of several controversial decisions associated with the final years of Ive’s tenure, including the MacBook’s butterfly keyboard. His apparent attempt to keep some distance between himself and the lawsuit fits that same approach.
But Apple doesn’t have full control over who gets involved once the case is discovered. Given Ive’s role in founding io Products and overseeing the hardware program at the center of the dispute, OpenAI could argue that it has relevant knowledge about how the products were developed, what information the team relied on, and whether Apple’s trade secrets played a role.
Apple could then face the uncomfortable prospect of questioning Ive under oath, questioning his account or attempting to undermine the testimony of the executive who shaped some of its most iconic products.
This wouldn’t be the first time I’ve testified in an Apple-related lawsuit. In 2012, he was deposed as part of his patent battle with Samsung, where he answered questions about Apple’s design process and early iPhone and iPad prototypes.
However, appearing on the opposing side could damage his carefully maintained relationship with Apple and even create friction with OpenAI if Ive feels the company unnecessarily dragged him into the dispute to gain influence over his former bosses.
Do you think Jony Ive will be dragged into the lawsuit? Let us know in the comments.
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