Brussels (Belgium) (AFP) – OpenAI, the owner of the ChatGPT chatbot, lost Wednesday its appeal against the EU’s refusal to register its name as a trademark. The US firm had sought to overturn a decision by the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) that accepted protecting OpenAI’s logo but not the name.
EUIPO had ruled that the combination of the two common words in English, “open” and “AI,” could describe many business activities in the area of artificial intelligence. EU regulations do not allow trademarking a brand that simply describes a product or service, as that would mean competitors could no longer use those terms in their advertising. An exception is allowed for companies that can prove they have used their name for a long time.
OpenAI had previously lost an appeal to the EUIPO. The European Court of Justice confirmed that decision, saying the name OpenAI was not sufficiently distinctive to be trademarked.
© 2024 AFP
