Elon Musk has turned to Marc Toberoff, a renowned attorney in entertainment copyright law, to spearhead his new federal lawsuit against OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT. This move comes after Musk withdrew a previous version of the case and replaced the original legal team.
The latest lawsuit, filed in San Francisco, accuses OpenAI and its CEO, Sam Altman, of breaching contract terms by prioritizing profit over the public good in the race to develop artificial intelligence. This follows Musk’s earlier attempt to invalidate OpenAI’s license with Microsoft, which he retracted in June. The new legal action expands the claims to include federal fraud among other allegations.
Toberoff, a Malibu-based attorney known for his high-stakes copyright battles, remarked on the difference between the two cases, likening the first to a “Goldfish” and the current one to a “Great White.” His track record includes notable cases such as suing Disney’s Marvel on behalf of artists seeking to reclaim rights to iconic characters like Iron Man and Ant-Man, and representing the creators of the original “Predator” movie in a dispute with Disney’s 20th Century Studios.
OpenAI has yet to comment on the latest lawsuit but previously pointed to emails indicating Musk’s initial support for their for-profit endeavors. Meanwhile, Musk has launched a competing AI startup, xAI, valued at $24 billion as of May.
Musk’s legal battles have seen him work with various firms, including Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan and Morgan, Lewis & Bockius. Most recently, he turned to the conservative Dhillon Law Group to sue several major companies over what he describes as an advertising boycott against his social media platform, X.
