What happened
A US court barred OpenAI from using the name Cameo for its Sora video generation feature. OpenAI renamed the tool Characters following a November 2025 trademark lawsuit from the video-shoutout platform Cameo. The injunction forces an immediate rebrand of the character-consistency tool. This change affects all Sora integrations and marketing materials. OpenAI implemented the update across its platform this week to comply with the legal ruling.
Why it matters
Product managers and legal counsel face increased trademark litigation risks because courts are prioritising established brand protections over AI feature naming. This injunction follows a November 2025 lawsuit, proving that generic feature names create immediate liability. Resulting rebrands disrupt product roadmaps and marketing spend. This pattern mirrors the February 2026 Google lawsuit by an NPR host. Therefore, firms must increase trademark clearance budgets to prevent forced feature shutdowns or costly naming pivots.
Subscribe for Weekly Updates
Stay ahead with our weekly AI and tech briefings, delivered every Tuesday.
