US patent office rejects OpenAI's trademark application for 'GPT'
Technology
GPT is a generic term used for general software or AI products
(Web Desk) - The US Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) has denied OpenAI's request to trademark the term 'GPT,' standing for generative pre-trained transformer, in a recent decision on February 6th.
The rejection is based on the argument that 'GPT' is too general to be registered as a trademark, as it describes a feature, function, or characteristic of the broader category of AI products and services.
OpenAI contended that 'GPT' is not merely a descriptive word and that consumers wouldn't immediately understand its meaning. However, the PTO emphasized that those familiar with the technology recognize 'GPT' as a generic term referring to a general type of software, not exclusive to OpenAI's products.
This marks the second denial of OpenAI's trademark claim for 'GPT,' with the first rejection occurring in May 2023. Despite the setback, OpenAI has the option to appeal to the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board for another opportunity to secure the trademark.
The term 'GPT' has become widely associated with OpenAI, particularly with the popularity of ChatGPT and its AI models like GPT-3 and GPT-4.
Despite the denial, OpenAI continues to innovate, recently introducing distinct brand names for its various services, such as the text-to-video generation model named 'Sora' .
