Federal Court Imposes Preliminary Injunction on OpenAI and Jony Ive Over Trade Secret Theft Allegations

Federal court grants iyO Inc. an injunction against OpenAI and Jony Ive. The ruling follows allegations of trade secret theft involving hardware chief Tang Yew Tan.

By: AXL Media

Published: Apr 27, 2026, 10:13 AM EDT

Source: Information for this report was sourced from PR Newswire

Judicial Intervention Halts Branding for OpenAI Hardware Venture

A federal judge in the Northern District of California has granted a preliminary injunction against OpenAI, Sam Altman, Sir Jony Ive, and io Products, signaling a major legal setback for the AI giant’s hardware ambitions. The court found that iyO Inc., a Redwood City based startup, is likely to succeed on the merits of its trademark claim, effectively freezing the defendants' use of the "io" name while the broader litigation continues. This ruling marks a pivotal moment in a year long dispute that has escalated from branding disagreements to serious allegations of organized intellectual property theft.

Forensic Evidence Points to Coordinated Data Exfiltration

At the center of the amended complaint is Tang Yew Tan, the former Apple Vice President who now serves as Chief Hardware Officer at OpenAI. According to iyO leadership, forensic analysis of a company laptop belonging to former lead Dan Sargent revealed suspicious activity immediately following Tan’s outreach in May 2024. The records allegedly show the unauthorized download of 33 secret files and the export of 17 CAD files into cross-platform formats during non-business hours. These files were reportedly renamed with obfuscated strings to hide their contents before Sargent allegedly presented prototypes to Tan during a private dinner.

Allegations of Predatory Corporate Espionage and Misappropriation

The legal filing outlines what iyO describes as a "highly coordinated" effort to strip the startup of its technological advantages. The timeline provided by the plaintiff suggests that Tan pre-ordered the iyO One hardware just 11 days after the company’s TED talk went viral, using the order as a catalyst for professional contact. This sequence of events led to a $6.5 billion acquisition of io Products by OpenAI in May 2025, a company that iyO claims was built entirely upon its stolen proprietary technology and agentic computing research.