Following a contentious three-week trial in Oakland, the nine-person jury took less than two hours to deliberate before concluding that Musk had waited too long to file his claims, effectively rendering them expired under the statute of limitations.
U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers immediately accepted the advisory jury’s findings, officially dismissing the case and clearing a monumental hurdle for OpenAI as it prepares for a highly anticipated initial public offering (IPO) later this year.
Hair-Raising Testimony and Silicon Valley Animosity
The trial provided a rare, unvarnished look into the deep-seated rivalry between Silicon Valley’s most influential titans. Taking the stand on the trial’s first day, Musk donned a dark suit and told his lawyers, “It’s actually very simple. It’s not OK to steal a charity… If it’s okay to loot a charity, the entire foundation of charitable giving will be destroyed.”
However, OpenAI’s legal team painted a starkly different picture. During his own testimony, Sam Altman asserted that Musk hadn’t merely supported the idea of OpenAI transitioning into a commercial business—he had actively vied for complete control over it before leaving the board in 2018.
Fallout and Vows to Appeal
The verdict triggered an immediate war of words outside the courthouse and on social media.
William Savitt, lead attorney for OpenAI, hailed the decision as a triumph over a corporate distraction. “The finding of the jury confirms that what this lawsuit was was a hypocritical attempt to sabotage a competitor,” Savitt said, adding that OpenAI will continue focusing on developing safe AI while preparing potential counterclaims against Musk for abuse of the legal process.
A spokesperson for Microsoft echoed the sentiment, stating, “The facts and the timeline in this case have long been clear,” reaffirming the tech giant’s ongoing commitment to OpenAI.
Musk, meanwhile, took to his platform X (formerly Twitter) to fiercely lambast the outcome. Though he later deleted a post calling the judge a “terrible activist” who used the jury as a “fig leaf,” Musk firmly vowed to appeal the decision.
“Regarding the OpenAI case, the judge & jury never actually ruled on the merits of the case, just on a calendar technicality,” Musk wrote. He argued that the ruling creates a “dangerous precedent” that effectively grants “a free license to loot charities if you can keep the looting quiet for a few years!”
Trillion-Dollar Implications
The swift legal victory stabilises OpenAI’s corporate trajectory at a critical juncture. Unencumbered by the threat of court-ordered leadership changes or a forced multi-billion-dollar restructuring, the company is expected to forge ahead with its transition into a traditional for-profit business, clearing the path for an IPO that experts project could value OpenAI at a staggering $1 trillion.
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