OpenAI Loses EU Court Battle Over Descriptive Trademark OPENAI
OpenAI loses trademark dispute at EU court
The European Union's General Court has ruled against OpenAI in its challenge to register the trademark OPENAI. The court determined that for software and IT services, the term is purely descriptive of openly accessible artificial intelligence, lacking the distinctiveness required for protection. This decision upholds the EU Intellectual Property Office's earlier rejection, dismissing OpenAI's arguments about the term's uniqueness and its registrations in other countries.
The court ruled that the combination of words was not an unusual linguistic combination in English.
- jameson
> The EUIPO found that the word "open" would be understood by the relevant public as meaning freely accessible, while the combination with "AI" (artificial intelligence) would be interpreted as referring to products based on openly accessible artificial intelligence.
> for certain software and information technology goods and services, the term is purely descriptive and therefore lacks the distinctiveness required for trademark protection
edit: add the latter statement
- zkmon
Someone finally asks some sensible questions, about hijacking of the term "open".
- summarity
Key difference between the trademark systems here: in the EU system you don’t get a trademark by trading with a specific name and it then being recognized. It’s the other way around: the name must be unique, not confusing, and highly specific. It’s actually irrelevant whether a product exists or is traded at all.
Having gone through the process and gotten both approvals and rejections, the line is pretty clear.
- mrtnmcc
We had a similar result when a big U.S. defense company (Kratos) tried to take our open source project's domain name: open.space
The panel ruled in our favor, that their OPENSPACE trademark is probably invalid because it is descriptive.
https://domainnamewire.com/2026/04/08/u-s-defense-contractor...
- tallytarik
This article is somewhat misleading.
The court only ruled that "OpenAI" is descriptive. It did not rule that it can never be registered.
A descriptive trademark can still be registered with evidence that the mark has become distinctive through use -- that is, that "OpenAI" is known to the general public to refer to their company, rather than simply describing a type of AI.
It appears OpenAI have already made that submission separately:
> The Board of Appeal also stated that, once the contested decision has become final, the proceedings will resume for the purposes of examining the applicant’s alternative claim based on Article 7(3) of Regulation 2017/1001, relating to distinctive character acquired through use.
- goobatrooba
Good. The trademark would ultimately allow them to sue any company for claiming it provides "open AI". So only right choice to reject it.
- kzrdude
ChatGPT is a household name. And OpenAi is actually not, people outside tech don't necessarily know it.
- mppm
> OpenAI had argued that the word "open" has multiple possible meanings and that "OPENAI" is a coined term without a fixed meaning.
Duh. The open in OpenAI isn't supposed to mean open. We've all been complaining about nothing.