OpenAI faced a setback when the U.S. Patent Office turned down its application to trademark the term GPT, which it claimed to own. The U.S.
Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) has declined OpenAI’s bid to trademark the term GPT. Consequently, hundreds of thousands have queued up to purchase the domain name!
ChatGPT Domain Name Chaos: OpenAI Denied GPT Trademark
Despite its popularity, obtaining the “GPT” domain name does not seem straightforward for OpenAI. The patent office has noted that GPT is a very generic term, which could hinder competitors from accurately describing their products as GPT-related.
OpenAI countered in its application by arguing that GPT is not a descriptive term and that consumers do not automatically understand its meaning. However, the patent office highlighted that the consumer’s understanding of GPT is not the primary concern.
It was pointed out that GPT is seen as referring to a general category of software, not specifically to OpenAI’s products, by those familiar with the technology. In recent years, hundreds of AI services have incorporated GPT into their product names.
“GPT” is used as a generic term
For instance, there is an AI detection startup named GPTZero. Similarly, other companies refer to their primary AI models as GPTs, given that these models indeed possess GPT capabilities.
The term GPT has become closely linked with OpenAI’s widely recognized ChatGPT, as well as the AI models GPT-3 and GPT-4. When OpenAI made ChatGPT accessible to external developers, it also described its customized chatbots as “GPTs.”
Not OpenAI’s first application rejection
Recently, OpenAI has begun assigning different brand names to its services, notably launching Sora, a text-to-video generation model.
It appears that the company is gradually moving away from its pursuit to trademark the name GPT. Moreover, it has been reported that this is not the first time OpenAI’s trademark application for GPT has been rejected; the initial rejection occurred in May 2023.
The company has the option to once again appeal to the Board of Registration and Appeals to secure the trademark for the term GPT. What are your thoughts on this matter? Feel free to share your opinions in the comments section below.
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