court holds Elon Musk couldn't be deceived by statements he coauthored

Musk v. OpenAI, Inc., 2025 WL 1482386, No. 4:24-CV-04722-YGR (N.D. Cal. May 1, 2025)

I’m only discussing the false advertising claims; they are funny.

Musk’s false advertising claim under California law fails because “there is no evidence Musk relied on OpenAI’s public-facing statements to his detriment,” given that, under the facts pled as the complaint and the attached exhibits, “Musk himself helped author” the statements about OpenAI’s commitment to humanity that allegedly misled him.

Musk’s Lanham Act claims also failed; the theory was that the statements injured Musk and xAI as competitors, but “Musk is not xAI himself” and thus could not have been injured.