OpenAI Can’t Name New Hardware Device IO, Court Rules

OpenAI’s hardware ambitions have hit a new roadblock, after being barred from using the trademark “io” for some products following the latest court ruling in an ongoing trademark dispute.

Jony Ive—the famed 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 July, OpenAI moved to acquire the startup for an estimated $6.5 billion. Google Ventures-backed US hardware startup iyO, which makes AI hardware products, then sued OpenAI in early June 2025, alleging that OpenAI’s “io” branding was confusingly similar to its own name.

Earlier this week, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals chose to uphold a district court’s June decision to grant a temporary restraining order regarding the branding, Bloomberg Law reports. As a result, OpenAI, 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 of this year.

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.

OpenAI has already been clear about its intention to fight the trademark dispute, saying in a June social media post: “We don’t agree with the complaint and are reviewing our options.”

In a press release, following this week’s ruling, Jason Rugolo, CEO of iyO, said: “It is just 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.”

Regardless of what OpenAI’s hardware device ultimately ends up being called, the product is expected to land sometime in late 2026 or 2027. Details remain unconfirmed, but leaks reported by The Wall Street Journal describe it as a screenless portable device that is neither glasses nor a traditional smart display—“a third core device a person would put on their desk after a MacBook Pro and an iPhone.”

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Ive and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman claimed that they already had a prototype of the hardware device at a panel event in November, though concrete specifications weren’t discussed.

It’s possible we won’t see much closure when it comes to this branding dispute anytime in the near future. 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.