For startup Open AI It’s understandable that you feel like you’re protecting your brand these days. ThreatGPT, MedicalGPT, DateGPT and DirtyGPT are just a few of the many organizations that have filed trademarks with the USPTO in recent months.
All piggybacking on the incredible popularity of ChatGPT, which was rolled out in November by OpenAI. This, itself built from the company’s deep learning models, has rolled out its latest release, his GPT-4. last month.
No wonder I applied in late December for trademark For “GPT,” which stands for “Generative Pre-trained Transformer,” OpenAI last month petitioned the USPTO to speed up the process, citing “a myriad of infringing and counterfeit apps.”
Unfortunately for OpenAI, the petition dismissed last week. According to the agency, OpenAI’s attorneys not only failed to pay related costs, but also failed to provide “appropriate documentary evidence to support the justification for the special action.”
Given the rest of OpenAI’s queue, a decision could take another five months, said Intellectual Property Group partner Jefferson Scher. Kerr & Ferrell He also chairs the company’s Trademark Practices Group. Still, the results are uncertain, he explains Scher.
There is certainly good reason to hope that OpenAI can secure a patent, he says. For example, the ‘T’ in GPT stands for ‘transformer’ and I asked him if OpenAI might face resistance. This is the name of the neural network architecture, Google first announced in 2017 wide range of applications“Can GPT be a brand even if it has a very descriptive origin?” asks Cher. He can point to IBM (short for International Business Machines) as his one example of a brand with descriptive origins. it is “no warranty” [OpenAI] may eventually own [GPT]’” adds Cher, but such a precedent helps.
The fact that OpenAI has been using “GPT” for years and released the original Generative Pre-trained Transformer model (GPT-1) in October 2018 also helps, according to Scher.
Again, Scher says it’s an “interesting situation” and that “usually when you make claims based on usage, you build your brand over time in the market”, but OpenAI is primarily was known among AI researchers until the end.In 2008, when he released a fascinating deep learning model (DALL-E 2) that generated digital images, followed by ChatGPT, the company was sort of one night only feeling.
Even if the USPTO examiner has no problem with OpenAI’s application, it is then moved to the so-called opposition period, during which other market participants can argue why the agency should dismiss the “GPT” trademark. increase.
Scher describes it this way: For OpenAI, we need to establish that “GPT” is unique and that the public perceives it as such rather than perceiving the acronym as related to generative AI more broadly. .
How does the USPTO rule on public perception? “One scenario is to randomly select Americans and ask them to answer questions,” says Scher, It’s a six-figure project and the government won’t pay for it, so challengers to OpenAI should step in. Bill for something like that.
Another means of establishing public perception has to do with how “GPT” has been used in public, from late-night talk shows to public writing. “If people don’t treat it as proprietary, a trademark trial will determine whether it can be protected,” he says Scher.
Naturally, that would require a long process, which OpenAI doesn’t want.
The question arises why the company didn’t move sooner to protect “GPT”. Here, Scher speculates that the company was “probably caught off guard” by its own success. (Admittedly, ChatGPT hasn’t started yet and seems to be trying to get ahead of things in China, which may not be allowed, but reportedly tried to register ChatGPT. Related Trademarks.)
In any case, Scher says:if [startup] If you ask me if it’s safe to adopt, I’d say it’s not. ”
OpenAI could further benefit from an aspect of trademark law where trademark fame is a dominant factor, Scher said. You don’t have to be famous to secure a trademark, but once your costume is famous, it will be protected even if it falls outside that scope. No. If OpenAI can prove that “GPT” is a well-known trademark, it can also prevent the acronym from being widely used (even if it costs money to track down violators).
This could be a win for the company in this protracted process. The more time goes by, the more users OpenAI acquires, and the more press the company receives, the more likely the last scenario becomes.
Is OpenAI known to the average person in the average home?
