OpenAI sues Open AI? In recent years, this AI giant has become embroiled in a trademark lawsuit against a company using the trademark “Open AI” (with a space). In February of this year, the court granted OpenAI’s request to temporarily suspend the operations of Open AI’s website, alleging that the use of the trademark may confuse consumers and infringe on OpenAI’s rights.
Although Open AI is referred to as a company, it is actually owned by an entrepreneur named Guy Ravine, who has not officially operated it. He not only owns the Open AI trademark but also obtained the coveted open.ai domain before the establishment of OpenAI, leaving OpenAI with no choice but to register openai.com.
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However, the formal lawsuit is titled “OpenAI v. Open Artificial Intelligence.”
In the lawsuit documents, OpenAI quoted an email from Ravine to CEO Sam Altman in 2022, stating, “Musk paid $11 million for the Tesla domain and trademark in 2017. And it is well known that OpenAI has the potential to surpass Tesla… So the ultimate value of the domain and brand of OpenAI is considerable.”
The court also decided to temporarily prohibit Ravine from using the Open AI trademark until the lawsuit is resolved, stating, “The plaintiff’s trademark is related to the most well-known and rapidly popularized AI tools. In contrast, the defendant’s trademark is only related to a website that was unable to operate until shortly before the lawsuit began.”
Tom Gruber, former Apple executive, stated that Ravine had been pitching the concept of Open AI at least six months before OpenAI was launched.
At first glance, it seems that Ravine is just a trademark troll under the rhetoric of OpenAI, trying to demand a large sum of money for the trademark and domain they want. However, under external investigation, it is discovered that things are not that simple.
According to Bloomberg, shortly after the court banned Ravine from using the Open AI trademark, he filed a counterclaim against OpenAI and its co-founders Altman and Brockman in April of this year. He claimed that in 2015, he attempted to raise $100 million in funding for Open AI and had contact with several tech industry giants, including Google co-founder Larry Page and Meta’s Chief AI Scientist Yann LeCun.
In the lawsuit, Ravine emphasized that the similar names OpenAI and Open AI were not a coincidence and accused Altman and Brockman of stealing his ideas. At first glance, this counterclaim may seem like the last struggle and unreasonable troublemaking of a scammer, but industry insiders have come forward to support him and try to help him clear his name.
“He (Ravine) is a serious AI entrepreneur,” said Tom Gruber, co-founder of Siri and former Apple executive. Gruber testified that Ravine had pitched Open AI to him at least six months before Altman appeared and even witnessed him pitching the concept of Open AI to Larry Page.
“He is not as charismatic as Altman,” Gruber defended Ravine. “But he is intelligent and honest, and he was the first to conceive and apply for a trademark for his achievements. Now, OpenAI wants to ‘erase him from the story.'”
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So, who is Guy Ravine, the one who clashed with OpenAI? Like many tech entrepreneurs, he got his own computer at the age of five, started programming at a young age, and first entered the AI field and the startup circle during his university years. He founded a company called iNeed and claimed that Adam D’Angelo, the founder of Quora, had worked for his company.
Bloomberg described Ravine’s professional journey as extraordinary. He proposed many technology concepts that had a significant impact: he created a sharing room platform called Stayway five years before Airbnb; he believed in the future of electric cars and built a single-seater electric car; he created the community platform We and introduced the video sharing feature used by Snapchat and TikTok; and he even had a keen eye for investing in Bitcoin.
Although Ravine did not become a well-known successful entrepreneur, he is by no means a pretender trying to make a profit from OpenAI. He emphasized that he is the one being sued, not the one threatening OpenAI with his trademark. Furthermore, he allowed the open.ai domain to automatically redirect to OpenAI’s official website, openai.com, without charging a penny.
Why did the trademark dispute reignite years later? Perhaps it can be traced back to 2022 when Altman contacted Ravine about acquiring the open.ai domain. In his reply, Ravine stated that he personally did not lack money and would be willing to transfer the domain and trademark if OpenAI donated to the non-profit AI research institution he was planning to establish.
This reply was also “quoted” by OpenAI, mentioning the cost of domain and trademark payment for Tesla that Musk paid.
In the end, the spark that ignited the court battle was Ravine’s reactivation of the open.ai domain. He promoted open-source AI models on the website, stating, “Imagine if the best AI models were open and free.” He also embedded Stable Diffusion, an open-source image-generating AI model, which OpenAI deemed misleading. The open.ai domain is now inaccessible.
Furthermore, Ravine refuses to transfer the Open AI trademark to OpenAI. In the lawsuit documents, he mentioned that OpenAI is no longer open and has transformed from a non-profit organization trusted by humanity into a closed, profit-oriented entity. He also listed events such as a coup within OpenAI, a major reshuffle of the board of directors, and the departure of the security team.
Musk sued OpenAI for the second time this year, accusing the AI company of violating its founding principles. In response to the letters revealed by Musk, OpenAI hinted that openness was only temporary and sharing research results was a means to attract talent in the short to medium term. During the period after Ravine filed the counterclaim, OpenAI also announced a complete restructuring and transformation into a for-profit company, granting Altman a 7% stake.
It may not be easy for Ravine to win in the trademark battle against the current hottest AI company. However, through this lawsuit, his story has finally been revealed to the world, exposing the existence of an entrepreneur who was once dedicated to open AI technology and attempted to establish “Open AI.”
References:
Bloomberg, Reuters
