{"id":811,"date":"2026-07-15T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-07-15T09:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ipglobalguard.com\/openai-ai-trademark-descriptive\/"},"modified":"2026-07-15T09:00:00","modified_gmt":"2026-07-15T09:00:00","slug":"openai-ai-trademark-descriptive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ipglobalguard.com\/en\/blog\/openai-ai-trademark-descriptive\/","title":{"rendered":"OPENAI refused (T-555\/25): how to name an AI product you can register"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>On 15 July 2026 the EU General Court confirmed that OPENAI cannot be registered as an EU trade mark for AI software and related services, because English speakers read it as &#8220;open AI&#8221;, that is, accessible or unrestricted artificial intelligence (Case T-555\/25). The judgment is a clear warning for any AI trademark: descriptive words, joined together, remain descriptive. Tech companies in Europe, Latin America and Africa naming an AI product should test the name before launch, not after.<\/p>\n<h2>Key takeaways<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>The General Court dismissed OpenAI&#8217;s action against the EUIPO Board of Appeal decision of 10 June 2025 (R 190\/2025-5) and ordered it to pay the costs.<\/li>\n<li>A sign must be refused if <strong>at least one<\/strong> of its possible meanings describes a characteristic of the goods or services.<\/li>\n<li>Joining two words without a space or hyphen does not make the result distinctive.<\/li>\n<li>Fame and use count only under the separate test of acquired distinctiveness (Article 7(3) EUTMR), which OpenAI&#8217;s application still has pending before the EUIPO.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>What did the General Court decide in T-555\/25?<\/h2>\n<p>OpenAI filed the word mark OPENAI on 15 June 2023. On 5 December 2024 the EUIPO examiner refused it in part, under Article 7(1)(b) and (c) of the EU Trade Mark Regulation (EUTMR), for software and apps in Class 9, technology and cloud services in Class 42 and identity verification services in Class 45. The Board of Appeal upheld the refusal. In its <a href=\"https:\/\/infocuria.curia.europa.eu\/tabs\/document\/T\/2025\/T-0555-25-00000000PI-01-P-01\/ARRET_NP\/323775-EN-1-html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">judgment of 15 July 2026<\/a>, the Eighth Chamber of the General Court rejected all three of OpenAI&#8217;s pleas:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Descriptiveness (Article 7(1)(c)): the English-speaking public will recognise &#8220;open&#8221; and &#8220;AI&#8221;, and together they can mean accessible, open-source-based or transparent artificial intelligence.<\/li>\n<li>Lack of distinctive character (Article 7(1)(b)): not examined, because one absolute ground is enough.<\/li>\n<li>Equal treatment: registrations of OPENAI in more than 30 territories, including the United Kingdom and Singapore, and earlier EUIPO practice do not bind the Office.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Why is an AI trademark like OPENAI descriptive?<\/h2>\n<p>The Court applied settled case-law. Article 7(1)(c) keeps descriptive signs free for all traders. A word made of descriptive elements is itself descriptive unless the combination is &#8220;more than the sum of its parts&#8221; (paragraph 36). &#8220;Open AI&#8221; follows normal English grammar, adjective before noun, and has nothing unusual in its syntax (paragraph 37). It does not matter that the expression is not in a dictionary (paragraph 39).<\/p>\n<p>The Court also accepted that very different goods, from smart bands and NFT software to data security and user identity verification, form one homogeneous group because all of them can be based on or driven by accessible AI (paragraph 48). For AI companies this is the key point: once a product can run on AI, an &#8220;AI&#8221; name can describe the whole range.<\/p>\n<h2>How to name an AI product you can register<\/h2>\n<table>\n<thead>\n<tr>\n<th>Naming pattern<\/th>\n<th>Risk at the EUIPO<\/th>\n<th>Reason from T-555\/25<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td>Ordinary tech word + &#8220;AI&#8221; (open, smart, fast)<\/td>\n<td>High<\/td>\n<td>Each element is descriptive and the combination is grammatical (paras 36-37)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Same words joined without space or hyphen<\/td>\n<td>No improvement<\/td>\n<td>Joining words is not a creative element (para 38)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>&#8220;New&#8221; word built only from descriptive parts<\/td>\n<td>Still high<\/td>\n<td>A sign need not appear in a dictionary to be refused (para 39)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Name that is already famous<\/td>\n<td>Not decisive at examination<\/td>\n<td>Use is assessed only under Article 7(3), with evidence (para 60)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Invented or arbitrary word unrelated to AI functions<\/td>\n<td>Lower<\/td>\n<td>No direct and specific link to the goods or services<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p>The English-speaking public was enough here, but the same reasoning applies in any official EU language. A Spanish or Portuguese &#8220;IA&#8221; combination is likely to be assessed in the same way from the point of view of Spanish- or Portuguese-speaking consumers.<\/p>\n<h2>What this means for your business<\/h2>\n<ol>\n<li>Clear the name before launch: run a descriptiveness check in the main EU languages alongside the usual conflict search.<\/li>\n<li>Keep &#8220;AI&#8221;, &#8220;smart&#8221; or &#8220;open&#8221; for the tagline, and register a distinctive house mark as the core asset.<\/li>\n<li>If you already use a descriptive name, collect evidence of use per Member State now; acquired distinctiveness must be shown where the objection applies.<\/li>\n<li>Align the EU filing with Latin American and African filings, so that the same distinctive name is protected across the corridor.<\/li>\n<li>Check the product description too: AI-related goods and services raise questions under the EU AI Act, which our group&#8217;s regulatory team also covers.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>Our <a href=\"https:\/\/ipglobalguard.com\/en\/services\/trademarks\/\">trademark registration service for Europe, Latin America and Africa<\/a> runs the pre-launch check, and our <a href=\"https:\/\/ipglobalguard.com\/en\/services\/ai-digital-assets\/\">AI and digital assets practice<\/a> looks at the wider protection of models, software and data.<\/p>\n<h2>Where AI companies get naming wrong<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Choosing the name after the brand is public.<\/strong> Rebranding costs more than a search.<\/li>\n<li>Assuming that registration elsewhere guarantees the EU. The Court gave no weight to the 30-plus foreign registrations.<\/li>\n<li>Filing broad specifications. A long list of goods in Classes 9 and 42 can be treated as one AI-driven group and refused together.<\/li>\n<li>Leaving acquired distinctiveness for later without evidence from each relevant market.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>These are avoidable when naming, filing and evidence are planned together from the start.<\/p>\n<h2>Frequently asked questions<\/h2>\n<h3>Is the OPENAI refusal final?<\/h3>\n<p>The General Court dismissed the action on 15 July 2026. An appeal on points of law to the Court of Justice is possible but, for EUIPO cases, must first be admitted. Separately, the Board of Appeal stated that the EUIPO will examine OpenAI&#8217;s alternative claim of acquired distinctiveness once the refusal is final.<\/p>\n<h3>Can I register a trademark that includes &#8220;AI&#8221;?<\/h3>\n<p>Yes, if the sign as a whole is distinctive. &#8220;AI&#8221; next to a descriptive word is likely to be refused for AI-related goods and services. Combined with an invented or arbitrary word, or as part of a figurative mark with a distinctive element, it is far less exposed.<\/p>\n<h3>Does it help that my AI brand is already well known?<\/h3>\n<p>Not at the examination stage under Article 7(1)(c). Reputation counts only under Article 7(3) EUTMR, as acquired distinctiveness through use, and requires evidence covering the part of the EU where the objection applies. The General Court rejected OpenAI&#8217;s recognition argument on that basis.<\/p>\n<h3>Can IP Global Guard clear and register the name of my AI product?<\/h3>\n<p>Yes. We run descriptiveness and conflict checks, prepare EU filings before the EUIPO directly where our professionals are entitled to act and otherwise through qualified representatives, and coordinate local correspondents for the same name in Latin America and Africa, from a single point of contact.<\/p>\n<h2>Get the name right before launch<\/h2>\n<p>IP Global Guard, the IP services line of META Channel Corporation Limited, protects technology brands across more than 25 jurisdictions in <a href=\"https:\/\/ipglobalguard.com\/en\/coverage\/\">Europe, Latin America and Africa<\/a> with one strategy and one billing relationship.<\/p>\n<p>Send us your shortlist of product names, the goods and services and the launch markets. We will tell you which names are likely to survive EUIPO examination and how to file them. <a href=\"https:\/\/ipglobalguard.com\/en\/contact\/\">Contact our team with your shortlist<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><em>This article is general information, not legal advice, and reflects the position on the date of publication.<\/em><\/p>\n<h2>Sources<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/infocuria.curia.europa.eu\/tabs\/document\/T\/2025\/T-0555-25-00000000PI-01-P-01\/ARRET_NP\/323775-EN-1-html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">General Court, judgment of 15 July 2026, OpenAI v EUIPO (OPENAI), T-555\/25<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/eur-lex.europa.eu\/eli\/reg\/2017\/1001\/oj\/eng\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">EUR-Lex, Regulation (EU) 2017\/1001 on the European Union trade mark (14 June 2017)<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The General Court upheld the EUIPO refusal of OPENAI as descriptive (T-555\/25, 15 July 2026). What it means for naming and registering AI products in the EU.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1395,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[84,68,104],"class_list":["post-811","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-trademarks","tag-cjeu","tag-euipo","tag-portugal"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipglobalguard.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/811","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipglobalguard.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipglobalguard.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipglobalguard.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipglobalguard.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=811"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ipglobalguard.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/811\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipglobalguard.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1395"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipglobalguard.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=811"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipglobalguard.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=811"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipglobalguard.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=811"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}