Elon Musk’s xAI is going through a possible trademark dispute over the identify of its chatbot, Grok. The corporate’s trademark utility with the US Patent and Trademark Workplace has been suspended after the company argued the identify may very well be confused with that of two different firms, AI chipmaker Groq and software program supplier Grokstream. Now, a 3rd tech startup known as Bizly is claiming it owns the rights to “Grok.”
This isn’t the primary time Musk has chosen a reputation for considered one of his merchandise that different firms say they trademarked first. Final month, Musk’s social media platform settled a lawsuit brought by a advertising and marketing agency that claimed it owns unique rights to the identify X.
Bizly and xAI seem to have arrived on the identify Grok independently. Bizly founder Ron Shah says he got here up with it throughout a brainstorming session with a colleague who used the phrase as a verb. (The phrase “to grok” is regularly utilized in tech circles to imply “to grasp.”) “I used to be like, that’s precisely the identify,” Shah tells WIRED. “We received excited, high-fived, it was the identify!”
Musk has said he named his chatbot after a time period used within the 1961 science fiction novel Stranger in a Unusual Land, in keeping with The Instances of India. Writer Robert A. Heinlein imagined “grok” as a phrase in a Martian lexicon that additionally meant “to grasp.”
Shah says he utilized to trademark the identify Grok in 2021. Two years later, he was within the midst of launching an AI-powered reside occasions app known as Grok when Musk introduced his chatbot with the identical identify. “It was a day I’ll always remember,” Shah says. “I awoke and checked out my telephone, and there have been so many messages from mates saying ‘did you get acquired by Elon? Congrats!’ It was an entire shock to me.”
Shah insists xAI infringed on his trademark. However below US legislation, trademark laws are primarily designed to guard shoppers slightly than firms, says Josh Gerben, founding father of Gerben IP, a legislation agency centered completely on logos. “The objective is to not have confusion as to who’s behind a services or products,” he says.
For instance, Musk’s former associate Grimes also trademarked the identify Grok for a plushie AI-powered youngsters toy, however that utility may be very totally different from a software program device, decreasing the probability of shoppers getting them blended up. “The main points matter,” Gerben says. “What does the unique Grok do, and what does this new one do? Are they working in the identical channel of commerce?”
In Bizly’s case, the solutions to these questions are pretty murky. One of many necessities of registering a trademark is that homeowners need to demonstrate it is being used to sell goods or services in at least two states. The USPTO additionally permits individuals to file a trademark to order the rights to a reputation earlier than a enterprise is launched, however they will’t truly register it till, say, their jewellery web site is totally up and working or their pizza parlor chain expands right into a neighboring state.