OpenAI wants to register the GPT abbreviation as a trademark, but so far it hasn’t succeeded
OpenAI’s attempt to register the GPT abbreviation as a trademark has failed again, reports The Verge. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) rejected OpenAI’s application, arguing that the term GPT, which stands for Generative Pre-trained Transformer, is too generic to register and may prevent competitors from correctly describing their products as GPTs.
Earlier, OpenAI applied to the agency with a request to speed up the application review procedure, but was denied due to the lack of proper documentary evidence of the need for an expedited review of this issue.
The USPTO’s February 6 decision states that it does not matter whether consumers know what GPT means, as those who use the technology understand that GPT refers to a general type of software, not just OpenAI products.
With the advent of generative AI technology, many AI services have added the GPT abbreviation to their product names. Companies also often refer to their underlying AI models as GPTs.
According to Gizmodo, this is not the first time that the office has rejected OpenAI’s application for registration of the GPT trademark – the first time it happened in May 2023. The company has one more opportunity to register the trademark by filing an appeal with the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB).
