| Well, GPT is simply an initialism for "Generative Pre-trained Transformer". In Germany, a trademark can be lost if it becomes a "Gattungsbegriff" (generic term). This happens when a trademark becomes so well-known and widely used that it becomes the common term for a product or service, rather than being associated with a specific company or brand. For example, if a company invented a new type of vacuum cleaner and trademarked the name, but then people started using that name to refer to all vacuum cleaners, not just those made by the company, the trademark could be at risk of becoming a generic term; which would lead to a deletion of the trademark. I think this is basically what happens to GPT here. Btw, there are some interesting exampls from the past were trademarks were lost due to the brand name becoming too popular: Vaseline and Fön (hairdryer; everyone in Germany uses the term "Fön"). I also found some trademarks which are at risk of being lost: "Lego", "Tupperware", "Post" (Deutsche Post/DHL), and "Jeep". I don't know how all this stuff works in America though. But it would honestly suck if you'd approve such a generic term as a trademark :/ |
What OpenAI did was the opposite of what you describe, they took an already-generic term and used it for a product name. I wouldn't be surprised if they can't actually trademark that.