OpenAI pulls promotional materials around Jony Ive deal due to court order

OpenAI has pulled a much-discussed video selling the friendship between CEO Sam Altman and legendary Apple designer Jony Ive (plus, by the way, OpenAI’s $6.5 billion deal to acquire Ive and Altman’s device startup io) from its website and YouTube web page.

Does that recommend one thing is amiss with the acquisition, or with plans for Ive to guide design work at OpenAI? Not precisely, according to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, who experiences that the “deal is on observe and has NOT dissolved or something of the type.” As an alternative, he mentioned a choose has issued a restraining order over the io identify, forcing the corporate to drag all supplies that used it.

OpenAI subsequently confirmed that is the case, updating the old announcement page with the assertion, “This web page is quickly down as a result of a courtroom order following a trademark criticism from iyO about our use of the identify ‘io.’ We don’t agree with the criticism and are reviewing our choices.”

The corporate mentioned this doesn’t have an effect on the cope with io.

The iyO in query emerged from the Alphabet X “moonshot manufacturing facility,” and its first introduced product is a set of generative AI-powered earbuds. An earlier report at Bloomberg Regulation famous that iyO had brought a trademark lawsuit against OpenAI, with the choose suggesting she’s open to the corporate’s argument that OpenAI’s promotional video may already be creating shopper confusion.

For now, at the very least, the video stays viewable on X.

This put up has been up to date with affirmation from OpenAI.