In a new filing, iyO alleges that former Apple designer and now io co-founder Tang Tan gained access to his confidential designs, expanding the original scope of the lawsuit against OpenAI. Here are the details.
A little background
About a year ago, OpenAI bought io, an AI company founded by Jony Ive.
Almost immediately after the announcement, a hearing aid startup called iyO filed a trademark lawsuit, leading to OpenAI. to rub all materials related to the announcement.
In the lawsuit, iyO claimed that OpenAI was improperly and purposefully using a name similar to itself, which would cause confusion and dilute the value of its brand because they would be operating in the same general market.
iyO claimed to be working on AI-powered headphones, and its executives met with OpenAI representatives several times during which they demonstrated their products and technologies.
OpenAI and io, on the other hand, presented several documents that tell a different story. According to them, iyO CEO Jason Rugolo withheld voluntary details about the company and its technology and offered to sell the company for $200 million after rejecting OpenAI’s unsolicited offer to invest in iyO.
OpenAI also said it was the first io product it wouldn’t be an AI-powered wearable.
Since then, the work has been done the usual back and forthwith procedural hearings, petitions and appeals involving the prosecution and defense. OpenAI recently confirmed this io does not intend to use the brand name in general, some expected to end the trial.
It didn’t happen.
iyO expands the scope of the claim
In a document filed on March 13 and released earlier today, iyO is now significantly expanding the case, claiming that its trade secrets have been misappropriated.
According to the new allegations, a former iyO engineer named Dan Sargent downloaded the confidential files and handed them over to io co-founder Tang Tan, who is now acting as the defendant.
Petitioner Tan obtained access to CAD files, physical prototypes and internal design details, which the filing estimates “(accelerated) io Products’ product development for nearly a decade.”
From the document:
All claims asserted herein arise out of and are based on: (i) Defendants’ willful misconduct;
Infringe IYO’s registered and common law rights relating to IYO (pronounced “EYE-OH”) trademark (the “IYO Mark”) or cause or cause such infringement; and (ii) Defendant Tang Yew Tan and Defendant OpenAI OpCo, LLC’s misappropriation of IYO’s trade secrets (including confidential CAD files and proprietary design data) with the assistance of former IYO engineer Dan Sargent to accelerate the development of io Products by nearly ten years.
The amended complaint also details how the alleged leak occurred. He alleges that Sargent accessed internal folders, downloaded dozens of files, and named them with “meaningless character strings like ergetght.x_t, ‘wrbb5r.x_t, ‘grege.x_t’ and ‘grgrgege.x_t'” before exporting the CAD data to cross-platform formats.
iyO says the activity took place a few days before a dinner in San Francisco in June 2024, where Tan reviewed interior materials and physical product samples with an engineer from Jony Ive’s design studio LoveFrom.
It remains to be seen whether the court will allow the amended claims to proceed and how OpenAI will respond. New documents related to this amendment will likely be released to the public sooner rather than later.
In the meantime, if you want to read the new document in full, follow this link.
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