The partnership between Sam Altman and Apple’s former chief designer Sir Jony Ive, has encountered its first hiccup.
The Associated Press reported that OpenAI has removed any trace of its partnership with Sir Jony and his io venture from its website, after a federal judge ruled they must temporarily stop marketing the new venture.
In May OpenAI had announced that Sir Jony and his io Products venture had merged with OpenAI “to work more intimately with the research, engineering and product teams in San Francisco.”
OpenAI/io
io Products is a product and engineering company co-founded by Sir Jony, in a deal valued at nearly $6.5 billion.
That merger with OpenAI had been expected, as Sir Jony has been rumoured to be collaborating with Sam Altman on an AI hardware start-up for a couple of years now.
The project was first reported September 2023, when the Financial Times reported that Sir Jony was in “serious” discussions with OpenAI to build the “iPhone of artificial intelligence,” aided by over $1 billion in funding from Softbank CEO Masayoshi Son.
Then in September 2024 Sir Jony confirmed the development in a New York Times profile about his activities since leaving Apple six years ago.
He said at the time that the goal (of io) is to produce “a product that uses AI to create a computing experience that is less socially disruptive than the iPhone”.
The May announcement confirmed that the iconic British designer was officially joining OpenAI, where he will develop some type of hardware product.
Trademark dispute
Now a federal judge has reportedly ruled OpenAI and io must temporarily stop marketing the new venture.
It comes after a trademark complaint from a startup called IYO, which is also developing AI hardware that it had pitched to Altman’s personal investment firm and Sir Jony’s design firm in 2022.
According to the Associated Press, US District Judge Trina Thompson ruled last Friday that IYO has a strong enough trademark infringement case to proceed to a hearing in October.
Until that hearing, the judge ordered Sam Altman, Sir Jony and OpenAI to refrain from “using the IYO mark, and any mark confusingly similar thereto, including the IO mark in connection with the marketing or sale of related products.”
OpenAI responded by scrubbing its website of mentions of the new venture, including a web page of the 21 May announcement.
In its place, the company had a message that said the page “is temporarily down due to a court order” and added: “We don’t agree with the complaint and are reviewing our options.”
IYO CEO Jason Rugolo reportedly applauded the ruling Monday in a written statement that said the startup will aggressively protect its brand and tech investments.
“IYO will not roll over and let Sam and Jony trample on our rights, no matter how rich and famous they are,” Rugolo was quoted by the Associated Press as saying.