(Corrects hyperlink in second paragraph; no changes to headline or text)Aug 3 (Reuters) - Apple on Monday asked a U.S. judge for a preliminary injunction barring ‌two former employees and OpenAI from accessing, acquiring, using or disclosing alleged ‌confidential information as it moves ahead with its trade secrets case. Apple last month sued OpenAI and the two ​former employees, both now working for OpenAI, alleging misappropriation of its trade secrets to benefit the ChatGPT-owner's foray into consumer hardware, a dramatic escalation of already simmering tension between the two companies. Liu is ​a former ​Apple senior system electrical engineer while Tan is ​Apple's former vice president of product ‌design for iPhone and Apple Watch. "Apple will be irreparably harmed absent a preliminary injunction," it said in a filing. "Apple's request for a preliminary injunction is both based on false information and completely ‌unnecessary because we do not have, nor want, ​any of their trade secrets," OpenAI said in a ​blogpost late on Monday.