A federal judge has banned OpenAI from using the term “Cameo” for its AI-generated video feature, handing famed video marketplace Cameo a temporary legal victory in its trademark battle against the AI giant.
U.S. District Judge Eumi K. Lee of the Northern District of California granted the temporary restraining order on Saturday, according to a case filed Saturday in the Baron App, Inc. case. v. OpenAI, Inc.
Baron App Inc., operator of Cameo, sued OpenAI last month for trademark infringement, trademark dilution and unfair competition related to the “Cameo” feature of OpenAI’s text-to-video model Sora 2.
The restraining order prohibits OpenAI and its officers, directors and employees from using “Cameo” or any confusingly similar marks, including “Cameos,” “CameoVideo” or “Kameo” for its Sora AI video generation products and related marketing in the United States.
The TRO lasts until December 22, and the court has scheduled a hearing for December 19, with Cameo’s additional evidence due December 1, OpenAI’s opposition due December 5, Cameo’s response due December 12, and demonstrative exhibits due December 17.
Declutter has contacted both Cameo and OpenAI for further comment.
The trademark dispute
Founded in 2017, Cameo has dominated the personalized celebrity video market and has facilitated more than 10 million fan videos to date, giving a platform to celebrities like Donald Trump Jr., Jake Paul, Snoop Dogg, Lindsay Lohan and others.
Sora 2 is OpenAI’s upgraded text-to-video system, which launched two months ago and has been rebuilt as a TikTok-style app that generates AI videos using digital similarities.
Cameo claims that OpenAI’s revamped Sora 2 now uses the CAMEO brand to compete directly with it, forcing users to choose between authentic celebrity videos on Cameo and AI-generated ‘Cameos’ on Sora 2, misinforming consumers as both types of clips spread across the same social platforms.
According to the lawsuit, OpenAI’s use of its federally registered trademark is already causing consumer confusion.
The complaint cites examples ranging from a customer mistakenly contacting Cameo for help with Sora issues to social media users tagging Cameo’s accounts in posts about OpenAI’s feature.
“While the court’s order is temporary, we hope that OpenAI will agree to permanently stop using our brand to avoid further harm to the public or Cameo,” Steven Galanis, co-founder and CEO of Cameo, tweeted in response to the order.
OpenAI’s legal battle
In addition to the Cameo trademark dispute, OpenAI is facing other mounting legal challenges.
In August, X Corp. and Elon Musk’s xAI filed an antitrust lawsuit against Apple and OpenAI over an exclusive iPhone AI integration deal.
A federal judge denied both companies’ requests to dismiss the case last month, allowing claims of market monopolization to go to trial.
In September, xAI filed a separate federal lawsuit accusing OpenAI of orchestrating a “coordinated, unfair and unlawful campaign” to steal proprietary technology through targeted employee poaching.
Also last month, U.S. District Judge Sidney H. Stein denied OpenAI’s motion to file a “download claim” from authors who alleged the company unlawfully downloaded their books for AI training.