TradeSun sues OpenAI over the ‘Astra’ trademark of its new artificial intelligence model

OpenAI was sued on Monday in federal court in San Francisco for alleged trademark infringement in connection with its new artificial intelligence model “Astra”, as the Reuters news agency reports.

The lawsuit was filed by TradeSun, a company based in Del Mar, California, which claims to have used the name “Astra” since 2021 for its software that uses artificial intelligence agents to analyse trade documents for banks and financial institutions. The suit says OpenAI’s new flagship model will create confusion among consumers; as quoted in the court documents: “By saturating the market with ‘Astra,’ OpenAI is teaching the public that Astra means OpenAI.”

TradeSun is seeking unspecified monetary damages, as well as a court order barring OpenAI from using the name “Astra”. OpenAI representatives did not immediately respond to Reuters’ request for comment.

According to the same reporting, OpenAI unveiled the Astra model on September 3, and later that month cancelled an updated version of it over safety concerns.

This is not OpenAI’s first trademark lawsuit. The company has previously faced suits over the Sora video-generation app, Cameo digital images and devices under the “io” brand — it has already dropped the “io” name and settled the dispute with device company iyO.