OpenAI Prevailed in Trademark Opposition Against Z.AI’s “ChatGLM”

On August 27, 2026, Taiwan’s IP Office (“TIPO”) ruled in the favor of OpenAI OPCO LLC (“OpenAI”) in its opposition against Z.AI’s “ChatGLM”, finding the contested trademark to be confusingly similar to OpenAI’s “CHATGPT” (See below).

The contested trademark, “ChatGLM” (Reg. No. 02401552, see below), was filed by Z.AI on September 20, 2023, and registered on September 16, 2024. The mark covered products in Class 9, including computer software, downloadable computer application software, humanoid robots with communication and learning functions for assistance and reception, downloadable computer programs for artificially generating human speech and text, programs and software for natural language processing, generation, understanding, and analysis, etc. OpenAI filed trademark opposition on December 2, 2024, alleging that the contested trademark violated Articles 30.1.10, 30.1.11, and 30.1.12 of Trademark Act.

TIPO found in the favor of OpenAI based on Article 30.1.10 of Trademark Act:

1.      Article 30.1.10 of Trademark Act provides that a mark shall not be registered if such a mark is identical or similar to another’s registered trademark, to be used in identical or similar goods or services, and hence there exists likelihood of confusion in the relevant public.

2.      While Z.AI contended that “Chat” is of low distinctiveness because similar trademarks have been widely adopted in the relevant markets, TIPO found these arguments unpersuasive. TIPO held the view that both OpenAI’s and Z.AI’s trademarks share the same structure, i.e., both are 7-letter words, consisting of the same initial 4 letters (i.e., Chat/CHAT) and another 3 letters with “G”. Ordinary consumers are likely to find “ChatGLM” to be visually and phonetically similar to “CHATGPT”.

3.      TIPO further found the designated products of the contested trademark highly relevant to those covered by OpenAI’s “CHATGPT”. For example, downloadable computer programs for artificially generating human speech and text, and the software and programs for natural language processing are related to OpenAI’s AI chatbot and the relevant product categories in terms of their nature, function, purpose, and targeted customers.

4.      TIPO acknowledged that “CHATGPT” stands for “Chat Generative Pre-Trained Transformer”, which could be descriptive. However, since OpenAI’s continuous and extensive use in 2022, such trademark has acquired secondary meaning and gathered considerable recognition from the relevant consumers.

5.      Moreover, TIPO found that the evidence of trademark usage from Z.AI insufficient to prove its market recognition. The records were defective for either postdating the filing date or being undated. On the other hand, the records submitted by OpenAI, including evidence showing its worldwide adoption, global and local media coverages, and hundreds of local textbooks and essays introducing the usage of “CHATGPT”, convinced TIPO that local consumers are more familiar with OpenAI’s trademark.

In view of the above, given the similarity between the two trademarks, the relatedness between the designated products, the acquired distinctiveness of “CHATGPT”, and the high market recognition, TIPO concluded that the registration of “ChatGLM” may cause confusion with OpenAI’s “CHATGPT”. The contested trademark was cancelled accordingly.

 

Source: https://cloud.tipo.gov.tw/S282/S282WV1/#/written-result-details/disposition?issueKey=doNQI%2BOkAc8QoPuoKcBpmqoFKMUFuW4VG0go