Davila signs orders that moot Apple's injunction bid against OpenAI

On 16 October 2026, U.S. District Judge Edward J. Davila signed an order that grants a joint stipulation in Apple Inc. v. Liu, No. 5:26-cv-07078-EJD, and states that Apple’s motion for a preliminary injunction “shall be deemed moot.” The order is document 188 on the CourtListener docket. The signature block is dated 16 October 2026. Counsel dated the stipulation 15 October 2026. A second order the same day, document 189, grants a separate stipulation on expedited discovery.

This updates the 15 October account of the discovery order and of OpenAI’s supplement. The 16 October orders do not decide whether anyone misused anyone else’s information.

What the defendants agreed

Document 188 is the parties’ stipulation, entered by the court. It orders that the defendants shall not access, acquire, use, or disclose “Apple confidential or trade secret information” in any manner, including in commercial activities. They shall not solicit or encourage the unauthorized acquisition, use, or disclosure of that information. They shall not destroy, delete, or conceal evidence relevant to the claims or defenses, including devices and accounts used to handle it.

The image clause does not name a number of people. It requires full forensic images of devices and repositories the defendants control, for employees they know hold, or previously held, Apple confidential or trade-secret information. Images are due within 14 days of the order, or within 14 days of becoming aware, whichever is later. Repository images are limited to the communications or documents that contain the information. Before those documents go to Apple’s counsel, the defendants have 72 hours or two business days, whichever is greater, to review them for privilege, privacy, or their own trade secrets.

The Verge, Dominic Preston, posted at 08:04 UTC on 15 October and relaying Bloomberg, said OpenAI agreed to hand over forensic images of the drives of 14 employees who left Apple, after the judge said he was “highly likely” to grant an injunction. That employee count is not in document 188. The 14 in the order is a count of days.

The schedule from 14 October

The court’s 14 October minute entry says counsel stipulated to submit an order that would moot the injunction motion. At the case-management conference that day, they were to meet and confer on a schedule that presumes a trial on 19 July 2027, with the joint proposed schedule due 23 October 2026. The entry says the motion to dismiss was taken under submission. As of 17 October, no later order on the docket changes those dates.

A Daily Journal teaser says Judge Davila approved the stipulation Friday morning, then stops for subscribers. A Litigation Sentinel article dated 16 October still says that, as of 15 October, no ruling on that day’s stipulations was on the docket. The docket, as of 17 October, lists documents 188 and 189 as signed and filed on 16 October.

Document 189, signed the same day, rewrites pieces of the 13 October expedited-discovery order and says the rest of that order remains in effect.