AI keywords are no longer available! OpenAI has applied for “GPT” as a trademark
With OpenAI’s AI chatbot ChatGPT starting the AI wave, many companies have applied for trademarks under the names of ThreatGPT, MedicalGPT, DateGPT and DirtyGPT in a short period of time.
OpenAI applied for the “GPT” (Generative Pre-Training Transformation Model) trademark in December last year, and filed an application with the US Patent and Trademark Office in March, requesting accelerated review on the grounds that “numerous infringing and counterfeit applications” emerged, but this reason If it is rejected, the review time may take 5 months, and it is not sure whether it will be passed in the end.
One of the reasons is that GPT is the abbreviation of Generative Pre-trained Transformer, and T (Transformer) is the name of the neural network architecture first announced by Google researchers in 2017, and it is widely used. Jefferson Scher, a partner in the intellectual property group of Carr & Ferrell law firm, pointed out that IBM (International Business Machines) is an example of a brand with descriptive origin, but even so, there is no guarantee that OpenAI will obtain the GPT trademark rights.
Scher believes that OpenAI has used “GPT” for many years and published GPT-1 as early as October 2018. As far as OpenAI is concerned, “GPT” has to be specific, and the general public thinks so, rather than linking the acronym to the broader term of generative AI.
As for how to judge public perception, Scher said that it may be a random sample of Americans, but it will cost a lot of money, and the US government will not pay for it, so anyone who challenges OpenAI will have to pay for it. Or it may be related to the way “GPT” is used by the public, including late-night talk shows to public writing. If people don’t treat it as a patent, it will affect the trademark trial.
In any case, this will take a long time, and it is the last thing OpenAI wants to see, but why it didn’t take early action to protect “GPT” before, maybe I didn’t expect it to be so successful after its launch.
Scher admitted that now GPT is not three random letters, and if a startup asks whether it can be adopted, he will think it is not safe. OpenAI may benefit from trademark law protection, which also serves as an advantage for the lengthy application process.
