OpenAI pulls promotional materials around Jony Ive deal due to court order
OpenAI has pulled a much-discussed video promoting the friendship between CEO Sam Altman and legendary Apple designer Jony Ive (plus, incidentally, OpenAI’s $6.5 billion deal to acquire Ive and Altman’s device startup io) from its website and YouTube page.
Does that suggest something is amiss with the acquisition, or with plans for Ive to lead design work at OpenAI? Not exactly, according to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, who reports that the “deal is on track and has NOT dissolved or anything of the sort.” Instead, he said a judge has issued a restraining order over the io name, forcing the company to pull all materials that used it.
OpenAI subsequently confirmed this is the case, updating the old announcement page with the statement, “This page is temporarily 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 company said this does not affect the deal with io.
The iyO in question emerged from the Alphabet X “moonshot factory,” and its first announced product is a set of generative AI-powered earbuds. An earlier report at Bloomberg Law noted that iyO had brought a trademark lawsuit against OpenAI, with the judge suggesting she’s open to the company’s argument that OpenAI’s promotional video might already be creating consumer confusion.
For now, at least, the video remains viewable on X.
This post has been updated with confirmation from OpenAI.
Anthony Ha is TechCrunch’s weekend editor. Previously, he worked as a tech reporter at Adweek, a senior editor at VentureBeat, a local government reporter at the Hollister Free Lance, and vice president of content at a VC firm. He lives in New York City.
