OpenAI has given us all another chance to look at the cutesy picture of Jony Ive and its CEO, Sam Altman. In a social post, which included that adorable wedding-pose image announcing that the company had bought Ive’s ‘io’ startup, the AI firm says it has removed all mention of io from its websites due to a trademark complaint.
The not-so-happy couple
This page is temporarily down due to a court order following a trademark complaint from iyO about our use of the name “io.” We don’t agree with the complaint and are reviewing our options.https://t.co/suwMRPTHqB
— OpenAI Newsroom (@OpenAINewsroom) June 22, 2025
OpenAI spokesperson Kayla Wood said that the webpage initially announcing the $6.4 billion acquisition had to be taken down (temporarily) after a dispute was lodged by iyO, a startup that makes hearing devices and was originally part of Google’s moonshot division.
But don’t worry, the original deal is still on.
Read More: OpenAI’s Sam Altman is full of shit
Apart from the nine-minute video announcing the deal disappearing from the website, the blog post you can’t read, used to say: “The io team, focused on developing products that inspire, empower and enable, will now merge with OpenAI to work more intimately with the research, engineering and product teams in San Francisco.”
It seems a silly lawsuit given that Ive’s similarly-named startup is effectively being swallowed up by OpenAI. Many of the high-profile former Apple designers who were part of the 55-person team are now Sam Altman’s employees. But it gives us all a chance to see Ive leaning forward to touch Altman’s head, with his hand on his new boss’s shoulder.
Wedding portraits don’t look this staged.
