EU Court Finds 'OpenAI' Too Accurately Named for Trademark Protection

LUXEMBOURG — The European Union's General Court on Tuesday rejected OpenAI's application to trademark the name "OpenAI" in the European Union, ruling the term is "purely descriptive" of the company's services — a finding the company's European legal team described internally as "the most precise thing anyone has written about us in seven years of operation."

The court's written opinion held that European consumers encountering the name "OpenAI" would reasonably conclude the company offers freely accessible artificial intelligence — a description that OpenAI's attorneys argued was "not appropriate to the current business model" and which the company formally asked the court to set aside.

"We are asking the court to understand that the name describes an intention the company subsequently revisited," OpenAI's European counsel said in filings. The court was unpersuaded.

The ruling places OpenAI in the unusual legal position of having to demonstrate that its name does not describe what it does — a task the company's communications department first attempted in 2019, when it introduced the OpenAI LP structure, began phasing out open-weight model releases, and retained the name as an enterprise brand serving Fortune 500 companies under subscription contracts.

OpenAI holds trademark registrations for the name in more than 30 countries. Attorneys said those registrations were expected to remain valid, noting that regulators in the remaining jurisdictions had evaluated the trademark without reading the name at this level of scrutiny.

The company said it plans to appeal, citing a survey in which 94 percent of respondents correctly identified OpenAI as a company that is not open. Attorneys argued this proves consumer recognition.

"The public knows exactly what OpenAI means," a spokesperson said. "That is why we should be allowed to own it."