Does openAI own "GPT" trademark ?
So, anyone with a GPT name for example GPTNOW, is in trouble?
If they file a case, then icann will snatch the domain and hand to them?
Well, they've
filed an application to register it as a trademark -- but as I mentioned above, I really doubt that it would be approved. Also, it's important to note that trademarks are specific to particular fields (hence the fact that others have "GPT" as their trademark for non-software-related things wouldn't be an issue here one way or the other...).
To be able to register a trademark in the U.S., the applicant has to show that the proposed trademark is in fact "distinctive" of their company. The more
generic a term is in its field, whether to begin with (i.e., by not becoming distinctive in the first place...), or over time (i.e., by failing to maintain its distinctiveness), the
less likely it is to be registerable. Such "distinctiveness" is notably harder to achieve and/or maintain for terms that are more generic/descriptive rather than truly unique.
In the case of "GPT," in the context of software (specifically A.I.),
those letters -- particularly in that combination -- are understood to stand for things that refer to a kind of A.I. language model having certain characteristics (namely, a
generative pre-trained transformer).
OpenAI was
first to make a GPT, and kudos to them for that -- but that doesn't mean the term is distinctive to them. It would be kinda like saying that the first company to make a search engine could somehow trademark the term "search engine," etc.
Now, "ChatGPT" is another matter. That's more of a unique phrasing, which OpenAI
does have a good chance to get a trademark for...
