OpenAI Wins Affirmation of Temporary ‘Open AI’ Trademark Ban (1)

OpenAI Inc. thwarted a technologist’s bid to regain the right to use “Open AI” during a trademark dispute, as a split Ninth Circuit upheld a preliminary injunction Wednesday.

Open Artificial Intelligence Inc., which owns a 2015 supplemental “Open AI” trademark registration and the open.ai web domain, failed to undercut a finding that OpenAI would likely prevail, the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit said. A lower court held “Open AI” likely wasn’t “used in commerce” by co-defendant Guy Ravine’s entity before OpenAI became a household name in late 2022.

The unsigned majority opinion of Circuit Judges Sidney ...