Elon Musk loses lawsuit against Sam Altman’s OpenAI, US court says case filed ‘too late’

A US federal court in California ruled against Elon Musk in his lawsuit against Sam Altman and OpenAI. The jury said Musk filed the case too late under legal time limits.

The lawsuit focused on claims that OpenAI moved away from its original nonprofit mission and became a profit driven company. Musk accused Altman and co-founder Greg Brockman of benefiting financially from the company’s restructuring.

The jury rejected all three claims presented during the trial, including breach of charitable trust, unjust enrichment, and a claim involving Microsoft. The court dismissed the claims because they were considered legally untimely.

Musk reacted strongly after the verdict and said the court never examined the actual merits of the case. He had called the decision a ‘calendar technicality’ and announced plans to appeal before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals (the largest of the 13 federal appellate courts).

The case remains active because several contract related and federal claims are still pending in court. The trial highlighted growing debate over how artificial intelligence should be controlled, funded, and used for the benefit of humanity.

Microsoft invested more than $100 billion (₹9,627.15 crore) in its partnership with OpenAI, according to testimony presented during the trial. OpenAI continues to compete with major AI companies such as Anthropic and xAI.