After objecting to turn over relevant emails during discovery in a lawsuit brought on by Elon Musk, the judge is forcing the matter. Musk's email accounts must be submitted for review.
Apple and OpenAI were sued by Elon Musk's xAI, now owned by SpaceX, due to alleged anticompetitive practices. The trial hasn't been going well for Musk so far, as it was accused of destroying and withholding evidence previously.
On Tuesday, Judge Mark Pittman responded to Elon Musk's objections over his various email accounts. The objections were overturned, and business email accounts owned by Elon Musk for SpaceX and Tesla must be turned over for discovery.
Even though the case was brought on by X and xAI, the emails for Musk's other companies were found to be relevant due to how he's used them. The judge cites that business conducted for X and xAI occurred through various accounts, including several email addresses and Xchat accounts.
The case has been moving at a snail's pace since it was brought on in August 2025. In May, SVP of Software Engineering Craig Federighi was brought in as a document custodian.
Current Apple CEO Tim Cook was also requested as a custodian, but that was denied.
Pointless lawsuits
It isn't clear how long these proceedings might go, as the claims themselves are quite baseless. Musk has asserted that Apple and OpenAI worked together to prevent other AI solutions from being viable alternatives on Apple's platforms.
ChatGPT does frequently chart in the top five free apps on the App Store, but other AI apps overtake it from time to time. xAI, X, and other Elon Musk properties never chart as high simply because they're not as popular.
In fact, X is a shadow of what used to be Twitter due to the extremist views and sometimes illegal content that persist on the platform.
The claims are even more absurd given that OpenAI is reportedly unhappy with how its partnership with Apple turned out. Also, Apple is also now working with Google to use Gemini as the foundation of its future models.
It seems that Musk could have saved everyone a lot of time and money and focused on building more desirable platforms. Instead, we all have to watch the world's richest man throw tantrums about perceived slights.
