OpenAI Trademark Lawsuit: Battle Over Name and Origins

Guy Ravine's trademark dispute with OpenAI raises questions about idea ownership and legal complexities in tech innovation.

### Trademark Dispute: OpenAI vs. Guy Ravine's Open 'Space' AI
* ⚖ OpenAI is currently embroiled in a legal battle with Guy Ravine, who holds a trademark for **"Open 'Space' AI,"** filed on the same day OpenAI was announced.
* 💡 Ravine claims to have invented video-sharing technology that later influenced platforms like **Snapchat and TikTok**, documenting his ideas prior to OpenAI's launch in **December 2011**.
* 📝 Initially perceived as a potential trademark troll, Ravine's credibility was bolstered by endorsements from **respected Silicon Valley figures**, including Tom Gruber, co-inventor of **Siri**.
* 🏛 OpenAI has successfully obtained a preliminary injunction against Ravine, preventing him from using the **"OpenAI" trademark or domain**, which he acquired before OpenAI's official launch.
* 🚨 Although Ravine filed a countersuit alleging that OpenAI **stole his idea**, most of the countersuit was dismissed, though it has been **refiled**, indicating **ongoing legal complexities**.
* ⏳ The litigation process is expected to be **lengthy**, potentially leading to a jury trial that could take **months or over a year** to reach a resolution.
* 💬 OpenAI has remained largely silent on the matter, stating their legal actions aim to **prevent confusion and misrepresentation among users**.
* 💰 As legal costs mount, questions arise regarding why OpenAI hasn't settled the lawsuit, with speculation about their **intentions and the financial implications of prolonged litigation**.

OpenAI is going to war with a man who owns a trademark and website with the name Open AI with a 'space.' The man at the center of the lawsuit filed a trademark on the name Open 'space' AI. The same day Sam Altman and Greg Brockman announced their company, OpenAI. This man, Guy Ravine, claims to have invented the video-sharing technology later made famous by Snapchat and TikTok. Evan Ratliff wrote about it in Bloomberg Businessweek and joins us now. It is an incredible tale, some incredible reporting. It's probably one where chronology is important. So let's start at the beginning. Open 'space' AI and OpenAI were born at the same time. Take us from that. So essentially, this gentleman, Guy Ravine, who is a kind of technologist inventor who lives in Silicon Valley, he had come up with an idea, and he could document this for Open AI with a 'space.'

And the idea was that it would be a nonprofit that would be engaged in deep learning research. And the way that they would lure researchers away from Google, which was dominating deep learning research at the time, was that they would say everything would be open, the research would be open, and would all be done for the benefit of humanity. And if you know anything about OpenAI, the company, the organization OpenAI without a space, that is also their origin story. They just launched some months after Ravene can document that he was pitching this story around Silicon Valley. So they launched in December of 2011. The pitching is important because you originally thought Evan might be a bit of a scammer, and then you went to some of the really key names in Silicon Valley and asked, like, did he come to you? Is he legit? And one key person came back and said, I think he is. He did. And that's to me, is what makes this

story so, so interesting and different, and kind of the story that you don't hear about very often, which is that it at first seemed like this was kind of what they call a trademark troll lawsuit, like he filed the trademark the day that open air launch. Like, maybe he's just trying to usurp it from them. He owns the domain, opened that air. But then it turned out that some of the people that he had pitched to, one in particular, Tom Gruber, who is the co-inventor of Siri, who used to be at Apple, was a respected name. And I he he's backing Guy Irving up. He says, Yes, you pitched me this idea. Not only did he pitched pitch me this idea, I can document that he had it before open air the company launched. And so it's not a case of someone just claiming something out there in the blue. It's actually there are people to whom

he pitched the story, and there are documents showing that he pitched the idea before it launched. So whether that legally matters is going to be, you know, decided in the courts. If you're just joining us, I'm Bloomberg Technology. This really is a must-read in the Businessweek magazine. There's litigation ongoing here, right? There's the trademark dispute. There's a suit. Just update us on the latest on those fronts, Evan. So essentially, I mean, OPENAI has really prevailed in the arguments so far. I mean, they got a preliminary injunction against Garvey. And so he can no longer use openai, the trademark, or the domain open AI, which he again bought well before Openai launched. So he can't use either of those right now. He filed a countersuit against them, claiming they stole the idea from him. That most of that countersuit was dismissed, and now it's been refiled.

So he's had setbacks in court. But they're a long way from, you know, what would eventually be likely a jury trial if they ever got that far, that that would be minimum months, if not over a year away. These things always take an awful lot of time. Evan, what do you think the response will be from Openai to this investigation of yours? How have you been talking to the company without a space? Well, the company didn't have much interest in commenting. I mean, of course, they've filed a lot of arguments in court. And so they're sort of their comments are in their legal briefs. They're only sort of general comment was, you know, we took legal action, action to stop the intentional use of openai from confusing and misleading our users. Now, I think the one of the big questions around the lawsuit is why don't they just settle this lawsuit? Because the money that they're spending

in lawyers is probably, you could guess, already greater than they might have settled the lawsuit for. And the longer it goes on, the more that's true. Now, whether they want to make an example of GAVI or with their new funding round, it doesn't really matter to them how much money they spend. I think those will be the questions, but I think the pressure always mounts the closer you get to actually having a jury trial.

OpenAI vs. Open Artificial Intelligence

Welcome to the Bloomberg Technology YouTube channel. Subscribe for original series and mini-docs on game-changing technologies, profiles on innovators, live conversations with experts, and breaking technology news & analysis from Bloomberg TV.

Bloomberg Technology

OpenAI's Trademark Dispute with Guy Ravine

OpenAI is suing Guy Ravine, who owns the trademark and website for "Open Space AI," filed on the same day as OpenAI's launch.

Ravine claims to have invented "video-sharing technology" popularized by Snapchat and TikTok.

The two organizations share a similar origin story, with Ravine's nonprofit model aiming to lure researchers away from Google with open deep learning research.

A trademark lawsuit has emerged around OpenAI's launch, with Guy Irving filing for the trademark and owning the domain.

Tom Gruber, co-inventor of Siri, is backing Irving, claiming he pitched the idea to him before OpenAI's launch.

OpenAI has obtained a preliminary injunction against Irving, preventing him from using the trademark and domain, while Irving's countersuit claiming idea theft has been mostly dismissed and is now refiled.

OpenAI is facing legal setbacks, with a potential jury trial still months away.

The company's response to the investigation has been minimal, primarily through legal briefs.

There are questions about why OpenAI hasn't settled the lawsuit, given the significant money being spent on legal actions.

The cost of legal proceedings for GAVI is likely already higher than the potential settlement for the lawsuit.

The longer the case drags on, the more the expenses increase.

The pressure on GAVI will intensify as the trial date approaches, regardless of their funding round or desire to make an example of the organization.