June 27, 2025 • 10 mins
In this week’s monologue, Ed Zitron walks you through the murky lawsuit between OpenAI’s soon-to-be-acquired hardware wing and Iyo, a company they met with multiple times that makes a similar-sounding product with a near-identical name.
Sam Altman tweets: https://x.com/sama/status/1937606794362388674
Jason Rugolo tweets: https://x.com/jasonRugolo/status/1936933761964511721
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
All Media. Hello and welcome to this week's Better Offline monologue.
I am, of course, said Zitron. Last week, Open Ai
abruptly pulled the promotional materials around, along with any mention
of it's six point four billion dollar all stock acquisition
(00:24):
of Jony Ive's Ioproducts, an AI startup that is allegedly
making some sort of screenless AI device with open Ai
that will allegedly launch next year. Said device will not
be according to the Wall Street Journal, it won't be
a phone, and I have an Aortmand's intent is to
help ween user some screens. I love my screen. I
don't know why people keep thinking that's a bad thing,
(00:45):
but anyway, it turns out the reason that they did
this is that a company called Io sued Ioproducts Open
Ai Sam Altman and I quote Sir Jonathan Paul Ive
Johnny Ive, I just want a name on June ninth,
twenty twenty five, for trademark infringement, unfair competition, and unfair
business practices. Io also makes the case that these violations
(01:07):
weren't a simply unhappy coincidence, but rather a deliberate action.
A judge granted the temporary restraining order on June twenty
to twenty twenty five that stops Ioproducts and open Ai
from using its name, which has obviously put the brakes
on Aortman's attempt to hype this acquisition, which he had
previously leaked to The Wall Street Journal, could add a
trillion dollars to the company's valuation, which is of course bullshit.
(01:27):
At this point, I'm going to start calling Ioproducts, by
which I mean open Ai is soon to be maybe
acquired hardware wing the defendants because Io, by which I
mean the starthub in question, sounds literally the same. Io
has been referring to a device that they're making as
a computer without a screen since according to an archive
version of their website I found at least April second,
twenty twenty five. The defendants argued in their response to
(01:50):
Io's complaint that they made changes only after seeing Ioproducts.
So Jony ivesting Johnny, I fucking don't care and their
thing when they launched, and this is before they filed
the complaint, which is actually true anyway, Who are these people? So?
Io was founded in March twenty eighteen, is part of
Google X, which is effectively Google's internal skunk Works R
(02:10):
and D division, and was spun out as an independent
company in August twenty twenty one, raising a further thirty
seven point two million dollars on top of the twenty
five million dollars Google had already provided. I always been
preparing for launch ever since. They've had an audiologist to
prove thing. I think that's come out since. But the
Io one device, the thing that's really the thing that
we're talking about here, which is an ear worn screenless
(02:33):
computer that's meant to have launched already take a run,
said it with launching Winter twenty twenty four in twenty
twenty four, and of course it hasn't, and the current
store page says it will launch in August twenty twenty five.
But bugger me, I don't know how they possibly raise money.
Now there is a company, possibly owned by open Ai,
that has the same name that might do the same thing.
(02:53):
It's not great, and it doesn't get better for the
defendants because Io also owns a trademark one that covers
ever everything from audio head phones, microcomputers, downloadable mobile operating
system software a bunch of other things that would make
it very easy to mistake the defendant's announcement. Well for
Io and the Io one, I mean they have the
same fucking name. They have the same name. They have
(03:15):
the same name. Now, one might think this is all
a weird coincidence, except it very well might not be.
According to Io's complaint, representatives from Sam Moltman's Apollo Projects,
one of his many venture capital firms, met with the
company multiple times, receiving technical information and the vision for
the product, along with demonstrations of whatever they had at
the time. Weirdly enough, in April twenty twenty two, Io
(03:35):
was also introduced to Johnny Ive's design firm love From
to talk about a potential partnership, one that loved From
eventually declined. Important detail love From also works with open Ai.
I don't know if they'd started at that point. In
twenty twenty two, Io also attempted to hire Evans Hanky
as their head of design. Great name there, and basically
the air apparent to Johnny. I've at Apple and I've left,
(03:56):
except Hanky left to join. I've on a product sounds
the same. I just fucking hate these people, Hanky declined,
and in the defendant's reply, framed the conversation as Hanky
taking a favor for a friend, just talking to someone. Nevertheless,
Hanky went on to co found the defendant's version of
Ioproducts in twenty twenty three. Also, a lot of the
defendant's arguments are yeah, I was just being nice. I
(04:19):
was just meeting with them because they were nice, because
Altman himself said on Twitter, Oh, I meet with founders
all the time. Do you do they have the same
fucking name as the companies you're buying? Jesus Christ. In
twenty twenty five, Io chose to reach out to Sam
Mortman to invest and got the response that Aortman was
and I quote working on something competitive and that he
would and I quote again respectfully pass, before adding that
(04:41):
the company was called Io Products and that Johnny I've
was driving this, which is also a quote. Otherwise, multiple
people that work for the defendants identically named company went
on to try Io's current product, as well as received
demonstrations of the upcoming Io one device as screen this
computer that you control with your voice. I also that
there were multiple meetings of Open Ai representatives and Altman
(05:03):
himself about an acquisition, though emails that Altman has publicly
shared make it seem more like a friendly gesture this time,
and I would buy that to an extent. On the
announcement of the deal to acquire Ives Company in May,
Io CEO Jason Rugolo, Rugolo reached out to Waltman again
to see you about partnering or maybe an acquisition, eventually
bringing up that there was an obvious similarity between the names.
(05:25):
He used the words rut Row, which if I was
in a high stakes corporate negotiation, I would not speak
like Scooby Doo. Now. The defendants frame Rugolo and Io's
meetings as a generosity in their part, and their generosity
was so profound that they chose to meet with Io
at least five times over the course of three years.
For whatever reason, both Altman and Rugolo are choosing to
(05:46):
post about this publicly, and both of them seem like
huge assholes. Rgalo also posted I have not, nor have
I ever been suicidal on Twitter, and I must add
I'm not a lawyer, but some legal don't post that
or anything. Don't ever if you're in a lawsuit, don't
go fucking posting about the lawsuit. I don't care if
(06:07):
you're some guy or your Sam Altman you shouldn't be
doing that. It's just very frustrating to watch as talking
to a friend of the show case of Kagawa about this,
and I think it gave him madness, which is good
because I like to share it with people. Nevertheless, the
judge order that the defendant sees using the name Ioproducts
until a hearing is held in October, and in general
(06:27):
judges are hesitant to make this kind of ruling with
that sincere belief that the case says merit. But in summary,
this suit alligious that representatives of Sam Altman, Johnny Ive
and their respective firms Ioproducts, Love From Apollo Projects and
Open Ai repeatedly met with io as in Jason Roguolo's
company as a means of learning more about the intellectual
property and design of its products, going as far as
to suggest that they may partner with invest in or
(06:50):
consider acquiring the company. Keep thinking of like a Jason
Derulo bit with Rugulo, but I don't know how to
say his name proper. At this point, I'm several minutes
into recording them. Mogue, someone else do the funny. But
to me, something about this whole thing feels fishy on
both counts. The defendant's argument is that these meetings were
harmless roaming Rogulo and Iowa's desperate counterparties with the device
(07:11):
stuck in development hell begging open Ai and Sam Mormon
to invest in or acquire them, which is compelling. Ish
the emails that Sam Worman shared publicly, and I'll have
these in the notes, they don't make mister Jason look
particularly good. They make him look a little desperate. But
the same time, and I know this from talking to
various founders about like money is, you generally don't go
(07:34):
in heart and the bigger they are, they get it
kind of glad handle them a little bit because you
don't want to piss them off. It's basic business. So
he could have just been being nice. I would actually
buy this. I would also buy the defendant's argument, and
I think it would have a lot more weight if
it wasn't for the fact that they'd met with IO
so many fucking times and their goddamn name is identical.
In fact, what makes this entire thing so ridiculous is
that Altman and I could have named their startup literally
(07:57):
anything else, and none of this would have happened. They
could have named it Burger Inc. And it would have
been fine. IO would never have sued them if they
were called but Burger Inc. I don't know what they're doing.
But I guess the creator of the world's biggest plagiarism
machine couldn't fucking help himself. Well, the emails that Altman
has shared publicly do make Rigolo's sound a bit cloying
and don't feel like things you'd send somebody you have
(08:17):
a deep relationship with, like they feel like new conversations
and very generic. Io claims that there have been multiple
other calls and emails, and I imagine those will come
out and discovery, which is the part of the lawsuit
where everybody has to share emails and communications. Yet, for me,
the most damning part is the involvement of Johnny Ive's
love from in twenty twenty two. Almand's absolutely a gadfly,
and I would buy the idea that he'd meet with
(08:37):
random people doing an AI star up. There is a
history there of him randomly responding to people and meeting
up with them. Sure, whatever, but why was Johnny Ive's
design for meeting with Io in twenty twenty two, a
year before he'd found a company with the same name
that does something really similar sounding in roughly the same
timeframe that Sam Altan was meeting with them. I mean,
Sam Ortman's represented. This isn't that a weird I mean
(09:01):
it is. It's extremely weird. Why you just this friendly?
You just love hanging out This Jason guy doesn't seem
like he's doing well. Is he really charming? Is he
fun to hang out with? Jason? Hit me up, baby,
let's hang out. Actually, don't do that. You're at a
really big lawsuit. I don't want to fucking talk to you.
Stop posting. In any case, this fascal situation will ground
open AI's hardware efforts to a halt for a little bit,
(09:25):
at least until at least for a month. But they
could just rebrand. It's like but Burger, Inc. Maybe, but
just throwing that out there, call me Sam and if
you use that name, I'm suing you too. And while
they could come up with a new name such as
butt Burger, any details of the product that leg or
announced will now face unbelievable scrutiny, if not by the
tech press, but by me and Io's lawyers, because that's
(09:45):
the thing. They chose this name, and changing the name
will not hide the fact that they knew some stuff
about Io's products, me and the plaintiff in this lawsuit.
That's the other thing. The name is so similar, man,
you couldn't have come up with any and their claiming,
by the way, oh Io refers to input output, which
is true. But fuck mate, could you not have come
(10:07):
up with anything else? Any other name? But Burger? I
don't know. I'm going to say that at least one
more time before the end of the episode in but Burger.
There you go. Anyway, this whole thing is fucking stupid.
I find both sides of the situation very annoying. And
it's also important to note that Open Eye is yet
(10:28):
to buy io products, you know, the Johnny I've startup,
and it's currently in the process of trying to convince
Microsoft to let them become a for profit company, which
I will get to probably in next week's monologue. Until then,
I just want to say that everybody in this situation
kind of fucking sucks.
All Media. Hello and welcome to this week's Better Offline monologue.
I am, of course, said Zitron. Last week, Open Ai
abruptly pulled the promotional materials around, along with any mention
of it's six point four billion dollar all stock acquisition
(00:24):
of Jony Ive's Ioproducts, an AI startup that is allegedly
making some sort of screenless AI device with open Ai
that will allegedly launch next year. Said device will not
be according to the Wall Street Journal, it won't be
a phone, and I have an Aortmand's intent is to
help ween user some screens. I love my screen. I
don't know why people keep thinking that's a bad thing,
(00:45):
but anyway, it turns out the reason that they did
this is that a company called Io sued Ioproducts Open
Ai Sam Altman and I quote Sir Jonathan Paul Ive
Johnny Ive, I just want a name on June ninth,
twenty twenty five, for trademark infringement, unfair competition, and unfair
business practices. Io also makes the case that these violations
(01:07):
weren't a simply unhappy coincidence, but rather a deliberate action.
A judge granted the temporary restraining order on June twenty
to twenty twenty five that stops Ioproducts and open Ai
from using its name, which has obviously put the brakes
on Aortman's attempt to hype this acquisition, which he had
previously leaked to The Wall Street Journal, could add a
trillion dollars to the company's valuation, which is of course bullshit.
(01:27):
At this point, I'm going to start calling Ioproducts, by
which I mean open Ai is soon to be maybe
acquired hardware wing the defendants because Io, by which I
mean the starthub in question, sounds literally the same. Io
has been referring to a device that they're making as
a computer without a screen since according to an archive
version of their website I found at least April second,
twenty twenty five. The defendants argued in their response to
(01:50):
Io's complaint that they made changes only after seeing Ioproducts.
So Jony ivesting Johnny, I fucking don't care and their
thing when they launched, and this is before they filed
the complaint, which is actually true anyway, Who are these people? So?
Io was founded in March twenty eighteen, is part of
Google X, which is effectively Google's internal skunk Works R
(02:10):
and D division, and was spun out as an independent
company in August twenty twenty one, raising a further thirty
seven point two million dollars on top of the twenty
five million dollars Google had already provided. I always been
preparing for launch ever since. They've had an audiologist to
prove thing. I think that's come out since. But the
Io one device, the thing that's really the thing that
we're talking about here, which is an ear worn screenless
(02:33):
computer that's meant to have launched already take a run,
said it with launching Winter twenty twenty four in twenty
twenty four, and of course it hasn't, and the current
store page says it will launch in August twenty twenty five.
But bugger me, I don't know how they possibly raise money.
Now there is a company, possibly owned by open Ai,
that has the same name that might do the same thing.
(02:53):
It's not great, and it doesn't get better for the
defendants because Io also owns a trademark one that covers
ever everything from audio head phones, microcomputers, downloadable mobile operating
system software a bunch of other things that would make
it very easy to mistake the defendant's announcement. Well for
Io and the Io one, I mean they have the
same fucking name. They have the same name. They have
(03:15):
the same name. Now, one might think this is all
a weird coincidence, except it very well might not be.
According to Io's complaint, representatives from Sam Moltman's Apollo Projects,
one of his many venture capital firms, met with the
company multiple times, receiving technical information and the vision for
the product, along with demonstrations of whatever they had at
the time. Weirdly enough, in April twenty twenty two, Io
(03:35):
was also introduced to Johnny Ive's design firm love From
to talk about a potential partnership, one that loved From
eventually declined. Important detail love From also works with open Ai.
I don't know if they'd started at that point. In
twenty twenty two, Io also attempted to hire Evans Hanky
as their head of design. Great name there, and basically
the air apparent to Johnny. I've at Apple and I've left,
(03:56):
except Hanky left to join. I've on a product sounds
the same. I just fucking hate these people, Hanky declined,
and in the defendant's reply, framed the conversation as Hanky
taking a favor for a friend, just talking to someone. Nevertheless,
Hanky went on to co found the defendant's version of
Ioproducts in twenty twenty three. Also, a lot of the
defendant's arguments are yeah, I was just being nice. I
(04:19):
was just meeting with them because they were nice, because
Altman himself said on Twitter, Oh, I meet with founders
all the time. Do you do they have the same
fucking name as the companies you're buying? Jesus Christ. In
twenty twenty five, Io chose to reach out to Sam
Mortman to invest and got the response that Aortman was
and I quote working on something competitive and that he
would and I quote again respectfully pass, before adding that
(04:41):
the company was called Io Products and that Johnny I've
was driving this, which is also a quote. Otherwise, multiple
people that work for the defendants identically named company went
on to try Io's current product, as well as received
demonstrations of the upcoming Io one device as screen this
computer that you control with your voice. I also that
there were multiple meetings of Open Ai representatives and Altman
(05:03):
himself about an acquisition, though emails that Altman has publicly
shared make it seem more like a friendly gesture this time,
and I would buy that to an extent. On the
announcement of the deal to acquire Ives Company in May,
Io CEO Jason Rugolo, Rugolo reached out to Waltman again
to see you about partnering or maybe an acquisition, eventually
bringing up that there was an obvious similarity between the names.
(05:25):
He used the words rut Row, which if I was
in a high stakes corporate negotiation, I would not speak
like Scooby Doo. Now. The defendants frame Rugolo and Io's
meetings as a generosity in their part, and their generosity
was so profound that they chose to meet with Io
at least five times over the course of three years.
For whatever reason, both Altman and Rugolo are choosing to
(05:46):
post about this publicly, and both of them seem like
huge assholes. Rgalo also posted I have not, nor have
I ever been suicidal on Twitter, and I must add
I'm not a lawyer, but some legal don't post that
or anything. Don't ever if you're in a lawsuit, don't
go fucking posting about the lawsuit. I don't care if
(06:07):
you're some guy or your Sam Altman you shouldn't be
doing that. It's just very frustrating to watch as talking
to a friend of the show case of Kagawa about this,
and I think it gave him madness, which is good
because I like to share it with people. Nevertheless, the
judge order that the defendant sees using the name Ioproducts
until a hearing is held in October, and in general
(06:27):
judges are hesitant to make this kind of ruling with
that sincere belief that the case says merit. But in summary,
this suit alligious that representatives of Sam Altman, Johnny Ive
and their respective firms Ioproducts, Love From Apollo Projects and
Open Ai repeatedly met with io as in Jason Roguolo's
company as a means of learning more about the intellectual
property and design of its products, going as far as
to suggest that they may partner with invest in or
(06:50):
consider acquiring the company. Keep thinking of like a Jason
Derulo bit with Rugulo, but I don't know how to
say his name proper. At this point, I'm several minutes
into recording them. Mogue, someone else do the funny. But
to me, something about this whole thing feels fishy on
both counts. The defendant's argument is that these meetings were
harmless roaming Rogulo and Iowa's desperate counterparties with the device
(07:11):
stuck in development hell begging open Ai and Sam Mormon
to invest in or acquire them, which is compelling. Ish
the emails that Sam Worman shared publicly, and I'll have
these in the notes, they don't make mister Jason look
particularly good. They make him look a little desperate. But
the same time, and I know this from talking to
various founders about like money is, you generally don't go
(07:34):
in heart and the bigger they are, they get it
kind of glad handle them a little bit because you
don't want to piss them off. It's basic business. So
he could have just been being nice. I would actually
buy this. I would also buy the defendant's argument, and
I think it would have a lot more weight if
it wasn't for the fact that they'd met with IO
so many fucking times and their goddamn name is identical.
In fact, what makes this entire thing so ridiculous is
that Altman and I could have named their startup literally
(07:57):
anything else, and none of this would have happened. They
could have named it Burger Inc. And it would have
been fine. IO would never have sued them if they
were called but Burger Inc. I don't know what they're doing.
But I guess the creator of the world's biggest plagiarism
machine couldn't fucking help himself. Well, the emails that Altman
has shared publicly do make Rigolo's sound a bit cloying
and don't feel like things you'd send somebody you have
(08:17):
a deep relationship with, like they feel like new conversations
and very generic. Io claims that there have been multiple
other calls and emails, and I imagine those will come
out and discovery, which is the part of the lawsuit
where everybody has to share emails and communications. Yet, for me,
the most damning part is the involvement of Johnny Ive's
love from in twenty twenty two. Almand's absolutely a gadfly,
and I would buy the idea that he'd meet with
(08:37):
random people doing an AI star up. There is a
history there of him randomly responding to people and meeting
up with them. Sure, whatever, but why was Johnny Ive's
design for meeting with Io in twenty twenty two, a
year before he'd found a company with the same name
that does something really similar sounding in roughly the same
timeframe that Sam Altan was meeting with them. I mean,
Sam Ortman's represented. This isn't that a weird I mean
(09:01):
it is. It's extremely weird. Why you just this friendly?
You just love hanging out This Jason guy doesn't seem
like he's doing well. Is he really charming? Is he
fun to hang out with? Jason? Hit me up, baby,
let's hang out. Actually, don't do that. You're at a
really big lawsuit. I don't want to fucking talk to you.
Stop posting. In any case, this fascal situation will ground
open AI's hardware efforts to a halt for a little bit,
(09:25):
at least until at least for a month. But they
could just rebrand. It's like but Burger, Inc. Maybe, but
just throwing that out there, call me Sam and if
you use that name, I'm suing you too. And while
they could come up with a new name such as
butt Burger, any details of the product that leg or
announced will now face unbelievable scrutiny, if not by the
tech press, but by me and Io's lawyers, because that's
(09:45):
the thing. They chose this name, and changing the name
will not hide the fact that they knew some stuff
about Io's products, me and the plaintiff in this lawsuit.
That's the other thing. The name is so similar, man,
you couldn't have come up with any and their claiming,
by the way, oh Io refers to input output, which
is true. But fuck mate, could you not have come
(10:07):
up with anything else? Any other name? But Burger? I
don't know. I'm going to say that at least one
more time before the end of the episode in but Burger.
There you go. Anyway, this whole thing is fucking stupid.
I find both sides of the situation very annoying. And
it's also important to note that Open Eye is yet
(10:28):
to buy io products, you know, the Johnny I've startup,
and it's currently in the process of trying to convince
Microsoft to let them become a for profit company, which
I will get to probably in next week's monologue. Until then,
I just want to say that everybody in this situation
kind of fucking sucks.
Host
Ed Zitron
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