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OpenAI’s hardware ambitions have hit a new roadblock after a court banned it from using the "io" name for its upcoming AI device.
Jony Ive—the former Apple designer who helped create the original iPhone during his decades-long career at Apple—founded the startup io in 2024 to develop next-generation hardware for AI. In May, OpenAI acquired the startup for an estimated $6.5 billion and announced plans to make a hardware device.
Google Ventures-backed startup iyO, which makes AI hardware products, then sued OpenAI in June, alleging that OpenAI’s “io” branding was confusingly similar to its own name.
Earlier this week, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a district court's June decision to grant a temporary restraining order regarding the branding, Bloomberg Law reports. As a result, OpenAI, CEO Sam Altman, Jony Ive, and IO Products, Inc. will be barred from using the “io” trademark in connection with products comparable to iyO’s. OpenAI already removed all io branding from its website in June.
The court's decision doesn't bar OpenAI from using the io branding altogether—merely when it comes to marketing products the court deems similar to those of iyO.
In June, OpenAI said on X that, "We don’t agree with the complaint and are reviewing our options." It has not commented on the latest ruling.
In July, iyO CEO Jason Rugolo argued that it was "appalling that a big gorilla conglomerate like OpenAI and such public figures think they can try to decimate a startup company like iyO just because of their notoriety."
OpenAI's hardware device is expected to land sometime in late 2026 or 2027. Details are scant, but leaks reported by The Wall Street Journal describe it as a screenless portable device that is neither glasses nor a traditional smart display, but “a third core device a person would put on their desk after a MacBook Pro and an iPhone.” Last month, Ive and Altman said they already have a prototype.
MacRumors notes that litigation could drag into 2027 or 2028, with the case set to return to the district court for a preliminary injunction hearing in April 2026.
Disclosure: Ziff Davis, PCMag's parent company, filed a lawsuit against OpenAI in April 2025, alleging it infringed Ziff Davis copyrights in training and operating its AI systems.