IYO Sues OpenAI Over IO
(Monday June 23, 2025 @05:22PM (msmash)
from the vowel-movements dept.)
- Reference: 0178151719
- News link: https://yro.slashdot.org/story/25/06/23/1630236/iyo-sues-openai-over-io
- Source link:
IYO filed [1]a trademark infringement lawsuit [PDF] against OpenAI and Jony Ive's company earlier this month, alleging the defendants deliberately adopted a confusingly similar name for competing products. The lawsuit surfaced after the Microsoft-backed startup [2]quietly pulled promotional materials about its $6.5 acquisition billion deal with Ive's firm .
The Northern District of California complaint targets OpenAI's $6.5 billion acquisition of "IO Products, Inc.," announced May 21, 2025. IYO, which spun out from Google X in 2021, produces the "IYO ONE," an ear-worn device that allows users to interact with computers and AI through voice commands without screens or keyboards.
IYO has invested over $62 million developing its audio computing technology, it says in the filing. According to the complaint, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Ive's design studio LoveFrom met with IYO representatives multiple times between 2022 and 2025, learning details about IYO's technology and business plans. In March 2025, Altman allegedly told IYO he was "working on something competitive" called "io." IO Products, formed in September 2023, develops hardware for screenless computer interaction similar to IYO's products. The lawsuit seeks injunctive relief and damages for trademark infringement and unfair competition.
[1] https://business.cch.com/ipld/IYOIOProdsComp20250609.pdf
[2] https://yro.slashdot.org/story/25/06/22/222250/openai-pulls-promotional-materials-about-jony-ive-deal-after-trademark-lawsuit
The Northern District of California complaint targets OpenAI's $6.5 billion acquisition of "IO Products, Inc.," announced May 21, 2025. IYO, which spun out from Google X in 2021, produces the "IYO ONE," an ear-worn device that allows users to interact with computers and AI through voice commands without screens or keyboards.
IYO has invested over $62 million developing its audio computing technology, it says in the filing. According to the complaint, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Ive's design studio LoveFrom met with IYO representatives multiple times between 2022 and 2025, learning details about IYO's technology and business plans. In March 2025, Altman allegedly told IYO he was "working on something competitive" called "io." IO Products, formed in September 2023, develops hardware for screenless computer interaction similar to IYO's products. The lawsuit seeks injunctive relief and damages for trademark infringement and unfair competition.
[1] https://business.cch.com/ipld/IYOIOProdsComp20250609.pdf
[2] https://yro.slashdot.org/story/25/06/22/222250/openai-pulls-promotional-materials-about-jony-ive-deal-after-trademark-lawsuit
Using "IO" in any computing space should be free (Score:2, Insightful)
by Anonymous Coward
Using "IO" in any computing space should be free from trademark, Especially if it's in HCI. IO as a name for something that does Input-Output is just common terminology. It's like saying "Use 'Facial Tissue (TM)' brand to blow your nose" The trademark should be rejected because it's an industry term and beyond.
Next up, Farmer MacDonald (Score:3)
by Chris Mattern ( 191822 )
EIEIO
Re: (Score:2)
by bill_mcgonigle ( 4333 ) *
Maybe Juniper will buy IYO as one of its main satellite corporations.
Welcome to the moronosphere (Score:2)
by MpVpRb ( 1423381 )
Where expensive lawyers argue over stupid names for even worse products
Trademarks should have a minimum number of letters (Score:2)
To properly disambiguate themselves from other products. The whole trend of trying to trademark single or double letters is poisoning our mental namespaces.