OpenAI Pulls Promotional Materials About Jony Ive Deal (After Trademark Lawsuit) (techcrunch.com)
(Sunday June 22, 2025 @10:12PM (EditorDavid)
from the 404-errors dept.)
- Reference: 0178143245
- News link: https://yro.slashdot.org/story/25/06/22/222250/openai-pulls-promotional-materials-about-jony-ive-deal-after-trademark-lawsuit
- Source link: https://techcrunch.com/2025/06/22/openai-pulls-promotional-materials-around-jony-ive-deal/
> OpenAI appears to have pulled a [1]much-discussed video promoting the friendship between CEO Sam Altman and legendary Apple designer Jony Ive (plus, incidentally, OpenAI's [2]$6.5 billion deal to acquire Ive and Altman's device startup io ) from its [3]website and YouTube page. [Though you can [4]still see the original on Archive.org .]
>
> Does that suggest something is amiss with the acquisition, or with plans for Ive to lead design work at OpenAI? Not exactly, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, who reports
Gurman elaborates on the disappearance of the video (and other related marketing materials) [6]in a new article at Bloomberg :
> Bloomberg [7]reported last week that a judge was considering barring OpenAI from using the IO name due to a lawsuit recently filed by the similarly named IYO Inc., which is also building AI devices. "This is an utterly baseless complaint and we'll fight it vigorously," a spokesperson for Ive said on Sunday.
The video is [8]still viewable on X.com , notes TechCrunch. But visiting the "Sam and Jony" page on OpenAI now [9]pulls up a 404 error message — written in the form of a haiku:
Ghost of code lingers
Blank space now invites wonder
Thoughts begin to soar
by o4-mini-high
[1] https://techcrunch.com/podcast/openai-goes-all-in-with-jony-ive-as-google-plays-ai-catchup/
[2] https://techcrunch.com/2025/05/21/jony-ive-to-lead-openais-design-work-following-6-5b-acquisition-of-his-company/
[3] https://openai.com/sam-and-jony/
[4] https://web.archive.org/web/20250617101459/https://openai.com/sam-and-jony/
[5] https://x.com/markgurman/status/1936887629993464248
[6] https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-06-22/jony-ive-deal-removed-from-openai-site-over-trademark-suit
[7] https://news.bloomberglaw.com/legal-ops-and-tech/judge-probes-bid-to-bar-openais-use-of-io-in-trademark-suit
[8] https://x.com/sama/status/1925242282523103408?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1925242282523103408%7Ctwgr%5E405cffd6db4cfe6604064e2e5bf6efaacb27c449%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Ftechcrunch.com%2F2025%2F05%2F21%2Fjony-ive-to-lead-openais-design-work-following-6-5b-acquisition-of-his-company%2F
[9] https://openai.com/sam-and-jony/
>
> Does that suggest something is amiss with the acquisition, or with plans for Ive to lead design work at OpenAI? Not exactly, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, who reports
[5]on X.com
that the "deal is on track and has NOT dissolved or anything of the sort." Instead, he said a judge has issued a restraining order over the io name, forcing the company to pull all materials that used it.Gurman elaborates on the disappearance of the video (and other related marketing materials) [6]in a new article at Bloomberg :
> Bloomberg [7]reported last week that a judge was considering barring OpenAI from using the IO name due to a lawsuit recently filed by the similarly named IYO Inc., which is also building AI devices. "This is an utterly baseless complaint and we'll fight it vigorously," a spokesperson for Ive said on Sunday.
The video is [8]still viewable on X.com , notes TechCrunch. But visiting the "Sam and Jony" page on OpenAI now [9]pulls up a 404 error message — written in the form of a haiku:
Ghost of code lingers
Blank space now invites wonder
Thoughts begin to soar
by o4-mini-high
[1] https://techcrunch.com/podcast/openai-goes-all-in-with-jony-ive-as-google-plays-ai-catchup/
[2] https://techcrunch.com/2025/05/21/jony-ive-to-lead-openais-design-work-following-6-5b-acquisition-of-his-company/
[3] https://openai.com/sam-and-jony/
[4] https://web.archive.org/web/20250617101459/https://openai.com/sam-and-jony/
[5] https://x.com/markgurman/status/1936887629993464248
[6] https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-06-22/jony-ive-deal-removed-from-openai-site-over-trademark-suit
[7] https://news.bloomberglaw.com/legal-ops-and-tech/judge-probes-bid-to-bar-openais-use-of-io-in-trademark-suit
[8] https://x.com/sama/status/1925242282523103408?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1925242282523103408%7Ctwgr%5E405cffd6db4cfe6604064e2e5bf6efaacb27c449%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Ftechcrunch.com%2F2025%2F05%2F21%2Fjony-ive-to-lead-openais-design-work-following-6-5b-acquisition-of-his-company%2F
[9] https://openai.com/sam-and-jony/
Ive's spokesman as incompetent as he is (Score:4, Interesting)
"This is an utterly baseless complaint and we'll fight it vigorously,"
Obviously a judge disagrees, otherwise why would there be a restraining order.
It's all a grift, a way for Altman to funnel billions of dollars of VC to himself.
Re:Ive's spokesman as incompetent as he is (Score:5, Interesting)
Pretty much. I don't know how the financials are structured here (we aren't supposed to know) but the staggering transfer of $6.5 billion to a 1 year start-up with few employees and only a lame concept demo to show for its "intellectual assets" does not look at all like a legitimate business transaction.