Aug 27 (Reuters) - Lawyers for Elon Musk have asked a

U.S. judge to block ChatGPT-owner OpenAI from obtaining

documents from Meta Platforms ( META ) related to a previous

$97.4 billion bid for OpenAI's assets, a court filing showed.

OpenAI said last week Musk had tried to enlist his rival

Mark Zuckerberg in his bid for the AI company earlier this year,

but that the Meta boss did not come on board.

OpenAI then requested the judge to order Meta to produce

documents and communications related to any bid for the company.

Meta asked the judge to deny the request, saying it should seek

relevant documents directly from Musk and his AI startup xAI.

In a filing late on Tuesday, Musk's lawyers said OpenAI had

already received documents related to the bid from him and his

AI startup. They added that OpenAI's "expansive discovery" was

irrelevant to the current phase of the trial.

However, lawyers for OpenAI and CEO Sam Altman asked the

judge to reject Musk's assertions and said they were not seeking

"expansive" and "sprawling" discovery and that the relevant

requests for documents were targeted and "span weeks, not

years."

"Plaintiffs have sought to explain the absence of

bid-related documents by representing that their communications

were primarily oral. If that is true, then the need for

depositions - of Musk, an xAI representative, and other

co-bidders - is even more acute," they wrote.

Earlier in August, U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez

Rogers ruled that Musk must face OpenAI's claims that the

billionaire, through press statements, social media posts, legal

claims and "a sham bid for OpenAI's assets," had attempted to

harm the AI startup.

Tesla boss Musk sued Microsoft ( MSFT )-backed

OpenAI and Altman last year over the company's transition to a

for-profit model, after which OpenAI counter-sued Musk in April

this year.

A jury trial has been scheduled for spring 2026.