OpenAI has quietly pulled a highly publicized promotional video and blog post announcing its $6.5 billion acquisition of Jony Ive’s AI hardware startup, io, from its website and YouTube channel. This abrupt removal follows a court-ordered restraining order stemming from a trademark dispute with iyO, a hearing-device company backed by Google’s X lab. Despite the takedown, OpenAI reassures that the acquisition and collaboration with Ive remain on track.
The video, which featured OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and legendary Apple designer Jony Ive, emphasized their creative partnership: “The io team, focused on developing products that inspire, empower and enable, will now merge with OpenAI to work more intimately with the research, engineering and product teams in San Francisco.” OpenAI spokesperson Kayla Wood explained, “This page is temporarily down due to a court order following a trademark complaint from iyO about our use of the name ‘io.’ We don’t agree with the complaint and are reviewing our options.”
iyO’s lawsuit, filed in early June, claims consumer confusion due to the similarity between “io” and “iyO,” especially as both involve screen-less, voice-activated AI hardware. The hearing-device startup’s flagship product, the iyO ONE, uses bone-conduction microphones to enable voice control and was previously rejected in a collaboration proposal with OpenAI.
This legal hiccup comes just a month after OpenAI announced the largest acquisition in its history—a full-equity purchase of io for $6.5 billion, including the integration of Ive’s team of approximately 55 engineers and designers. The vision: combine Ive’s world-class design expertise with OpenAI’s AI capabilities to build next-generation consumer hardware. Despite the trademark setback, analysts and insiders confirm that the strategic hardware partnership is proceeding as planned.
