io is no more. $6.4bn for the wrong brand!

AI battles amongst the silicon six took an interesting turn yesterday.

Even $6.4bn gets it wrong: io cannot use ‘io’ any more following a dispute with trade mark holder iyO (Google). iyO wanted a partnership with io but when spurned they sued for trade mark infringement instead!

Ostensibly a trade mark dispute between Google (iyO) and MS (io openAI) but what really happened was openAI was forced to reveal some of what Sir Jony Ive has been cooking up in the back room.  

Tang Tan, io co-founder chief hardware officer, in a court declaration said the prototype “is not an in-ear device, nor a wearable device.” Tan notes that the design of said prototype in not yet finalized and that the product is at least a year away from being advertised or offered for sale.

This was undoubtedly also about IP transfer but Tan claims he took several precautions to avoid learning too much about iyO’s IP, such as suggesting that his lawyers review materials before he does.

OpenAI has now taken down online video content related to the $6.4bn acquisition of Sir Jony Ive’s hardware startup, io, after this trade mark dispute.