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Apple targets dozens of OpenAI employees with legal letters

ft.com

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Re: Apple targets dozens of OpenAI employees with legal letters

#61

Post by gota »

seviu wrote: post #44
reenorap wrote: post #10

Apple must have hard evidence on this. I can’t believe they would take it this far without already knowing they are going to win. If they have to fire a huge chunk of their hardware employees it’s going to throw their IPO plans into chaos.

This is John Ternus having a beef with Tang Tan. It’s widely known they both competed for the role of CEO. Tim Cook would never have started this. It shows a level of pettiness and arrogance which I never expected to see from Apple. I can’t put myself in the mind of John, but he clearly hated Tang. From outside and with a parent’s perspective this looks like my kids throwing a tantrum. John must be thinking he is the…

Maybe a naive take, but if there's one team in a large corporation that does not bend to "the CEO(-to-be) wants it", that is the Legal team. Particularly when the ask is a lawsuit of this scope and relevance, and potential costs (of all kinds). The head of Legal can just hint to the board how expensive (in all senses) the vendetta would be and the CEO is likely "not to be" anymore, or "to be temporary".

Re: Apple targets dozens of OpenAI employees with legal letters

#63

Post by cj »

jstummbillig wrote: post #24
reenorap wrote: post #10

Apple must have hard evidence on this. I can’t believe they would take it this far without already knowing they are going to win. If they have to fire a huge chunk of their hardware employees it’s going to throw their IPO plans into chaos.

What do you mean "this far"? How far is this? Corps lose law suits all the time. They always have to go whatever "this far" is before it happens, surely?

Filing lawsuits against ex-employees is going pretty far. Not good PR for Apple if their claims are wrong.

Companies often file frivolous lawsuits against other companies. It’s much rarer to throw frivolous lawsuits at individuals.

Re: Apple targets dozens of OpenAI employees with legal letters

#64

Post by gsibble »

nba456_ wrote: post #26
MichaelZuo wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It would be very strange for Apple’s legal department to send out formal letters filled with claims on a lark.

Not really, just slowing down a potential competitor could still be worth it.

That's never been Apple's playbook with lawsuits at least.

Re: Apple targets dozens of OpenAI employees with legal letters

#66

Post by gsibble »

JKCalhoun wrote: post #7

How can I say this…? Some companies come across like a neon sign flashing "EVIL!". It's been nothing but warning signs from this company for at least a year now. I'm so happy to have nothing to do with them (having deleted my account a year or so ago). Their marketing dept is going to have to really dig to get them out of this hole they've made for themselves. The idea that I would trust any device they might roll ou…

Agreed. Very wary of OpenAI these days.

Re: Apple targets dozens of OpenAI employees with legal letters

#67

Post by doctaj »

cj wrote: post #63
jstummbillig wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What do you mean "this far"? How far is this? Corps lose law suits all the time. They always have to go whatever "this far" is before it happens, surely?

Filing lawsuits against ex-employees is going pretty far. Not good PR for Apple if their claims are wrong. Companies often file frivolous lawsuits against other companies. It’s much rarer to throw frivolous lawsuits at individuals.

Just to be clear, these are letters to individuals about the existing lawsuit with OpenAI, not new lawsuits against individuals.

Re: Apple targets dozens of OpenAI employees with legal letters

#68

Post by wat10000 »

MattDamonSpace wrote: post #46
seviu wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is John Ternus having a beef with Tang Tan. It’s widely known they both competed for the role of CEO. Tim Cook would never have started this. It shows a level of pettiness and arrogance which I never expected to see from Apple. I can’t put myself in the mind of John, but he clearly hated Tang. From outside and with a parent’s perspective this looks like my kids throwing a tantrum. John must be thinking he is the…

Agreed Steve would do this But the iPhone is the most valuable consumer hardware product on the planet, and the accusations here is “conspiracy to steal” essentially. Is it really that petty? Apple should be okay with theft of valuable secrets?

Apple comes down hard on employees who merely leak to the press. Taking internal documents to a competitor is not going to be fun.

Re: Apple targets dozens of OpenAI employees with legal letters

#69

Post by appplication »

seviu wrote: post #44
reenorap wrote: post #10

Apple must have hard evidence on this. I can’t believe they would take it this far without already knowing they are going to win. If they have to fire a huge chunk of their hardware employees it’s going to throw their IPO plans into chaos.

This is John Ternus having a beef with Tang Tan. It’s widely known they both competed for the role of CEO. Tim Cook would never have started this. It shows a level of pettiness and arrogance which I never expected to see from Apple. I can’t put myself in the mind of John, but he clearly hated Tang. From outside and with a parent’s perspective this looks like my kids throwing a tantrum. John must be thinking he is the…

This comment is really strange and reads like disinformation

Re: Apple targets dozens of OpenAI employees with legal letters

#70

Post by Forgeties79 »

jstummbillig wrote: post #24
reenorap wrote: post #10

Apple must have hard evidence on this. I can’t believe they would take it this far without already knowing they are going to win. If they have to fire a huge chunk of their hardware employees it’s going to throw their IPO plans into chaos.

What do you mean "this far"? How far is this? Corps lose law suits all the time. They always have to go whatever "this far" is before it happens, surely?

The accusations are incredibly clear/defined (and serious!) and have a very simple burden of proof. These things either happened or they didn’t, and they have material evidence or they don’t. It’s incredibly unlikely that they filed such big, concrete accusations without concrete proof to back them up.

And while I am far from an Apple fan boy, yes a lot of big corporations file frivolous lawsuits but Apple typically does not engage in that behavior against other companies. Also bear in mind that open AI is a huge name so there is a public/political element that goes along with this for Apple. There are going to be a lot of people who do not want Apple to win this regardless of how true their claims are and will figut like hell to protect openAI

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