AI Audio Startup iyO's Legal Dispute with OpenAI Escalates: Accuses Former Engineer of Stealing Trade Secrets

The legal dispute between AI audio startup iyO and OpenAI has recently escalated sharply, from initial trademark infringement to a tech theft controversy. According to the latest court documents, iyO accuses former engineer Dan Sargent of illegally accessing internal servers, downloading a large number of confidential CAD files and design data, and renaming the files to gibberish to cover his tracks.

These core technical files eventually ended up in the hands of Tang Tan, a former Apple designer and co-founder of iyO. iyO claims the leak accelerated the other party's product development progress by nearly a decade. Although OpenAI previously gave up using the "io" brand name, the additional trade secret theft charges filed by iyO have made the case more complicated.