A federal judge in California on Tuesday disposed of a trade-secrets complaint brought by Elon Musk's artificial intelligence startup, xAI, against rival OpenAI, finding that the current filing did not establish misconduct by OpenAI.
U.S. District Judge Rita Lin, sitting in San Francisco, said that xAI may refile its lawsuit but that, as pleaded, the complaint did not identify any improper conduct by OpenAI. The lawsuit, which was originally filed in September, alleged that former xAI employees took confidential information with them when they left to join OpenAI.
In her written remarks, Judge Lin noted the absence of direct allegations aimed at OpenAI. "Notably absent are allegations about the conduct of OpenAI itself," Lin wrote. "xAI does not allege any facts indicating that OpenAI induced xAI’s former employees to steal xAI’s trade secrets or that these former xAI employees used any stolen trade secrets once employed by OpenAI."
Judge Lin had foreshadowed the likely outcome in a January opinion, indicating then that she was inclined to rule in favor of OpenAI. With Tuesday’s dismissal the case is closed for the moment, though the court explicitly left open the possibility that xAI could refile with additional allegations.
Spokespeople and lawyers for the companies did not immediately reply to requests for comment on the court’s decision.
The lawsuit is one component of a broader legal contest between Musk and OpenAI. The dispute also includes separate litigation by Musk challenging OpenAI’s conversion to a for-profit structure, matters that remain active outside the dismissed trade-secrets claim.
Context and procedural status
As described by the court, the present complaint does not tie OpenAI to the alleged removal or use of xAI’s confidential material. The judge’s ruling therefore turned on the lack of factual allegations targeting OpenAI’s own conduct rather than on a factual finding about whether any theft occurred.
The court’s disposition leaves the factual record and any future pleadings to determine whether xAI can add the particularized allegations the judge found missing.