US court bans use of OpenAI’s ‘Cameo’

A federal district court in Northern California has ruled in favor of Cameo, a platform that allows users to get personalized video messages from celebrities, and ordered OpenAI to stop using Cameo in its products and features.

OpenAI used the name “Cameo” for its AI-powered video generation app Sora 2. Users could use the feature to insert their digital portraits into AI-generated videos. In a ruling filed Saturday, the court said the names were similar enough to cause user confusion and rejected OpenAI’s argument that “Cameo” was merely descriptive, finding that it “suggests rather than describes functionality.”

In November, a court granted Cameo a temporary restraining order, preventing OpenAI from using the term. In response, the AI ​​company renamed the feature “Characters.”

“We’ve spent nearly a decade building a brand that stands for talent-friendly interactions and authentic connections. We like to say, ‘Every Cameo is a commercial for the next Cameo,'” Cameo CEO Stephen Galanis said in a statement.

“This ruling is an important victory not only for our company, but also for the integrity of our marketplace and the thousands of creators who trust the Cameo name. We will continue to vigorously defend our intellectual property from any platform that attempts to trade on the trust and reputation we have worked so hard to build,” he said.

“We do not agree with the complaint’s assertion that anyone can claim exclusive ownership of the word ‘cameo,’ and we look forward to continuing to make that claim,” an OpenAI spokesperson told Reuters following the ruling.

OpenAI has been involved in several intellectual property lawsuits in recent months. Earlier this month, the company dropped the IO branding around its upcoming hardware products, according to court documents obtained by WIRED. In November, digital library app OverDrive sued OpenAI over its use of Sora in its video generation app. The company also has legal disputes with various artist, creative, and media groups in various regions over copyright infringement.