OpenAI-Jony Ive AI hardware venture hits trademark snag over brand name
TL;DR
- A blog post announcing OpenAI’s $6.5B acquisition of Jony Ive’s hardware startup “io” has been taken down due to a court order stemming from a trademark complaint by a company called iyO.
- OpenAI clarified that despite speculation, the partnership with Ive is still ongoing, and it’s exploring options regarding the name dispute.
- iyO, which already sells an AI-powered “audio computer,” claims the “io” name infringes on their trademark.
All traces of OpenAI’s much-hyped hardware venture with legendary Apple designer Jony Ive have suddenly disappeared due to a court order triggered by a trademark complaint. A blog post that once sat prominently on OpenAI’s website was pulled without warning, briefly showing a 404 error (h/t Max Weinbach). Naturally, this sparked speculation that the partnership between Sam Altman’s OpenAI and Ive had fallen apart. But the company has since clarified that’s not the case.
In a notice now posted on its website, OpenAI says the blog post announcing the $6.5 billion deal between Ive’s startup “io” and OpenAI was taken down “due to a court order following a trademark complaint from iyO about our use of the name ‘io.’ We don’t agree with the complaint and are reviewing our options.”
The now-removed blog post from Altman and Ive stated: “The io team, focused on developing products that inspire, empower, and enable, will now merge with OpenAI to work more intimately with the research, engineering, and product teams in San Francisco.”
So who’s iyO? It’s a company that has already made an AI device capable of running natural language apps, think the now-defunct Humane AI Pin. The company calls its device an “audio computer,” but at its core, it’s basically an AI-powered earbud.
We’ll now have to wait and watch who wins the rights to the “io” name and if OpenAI and Ive will be forced to rebrand because of the lawsuit.
