TradeSun sues OpenAI over the GPT-6 Astra name, pleading reverse confusion with its registered ASTRA mark for AI software: complaint allegations

What was filed

The complaint is Document 1, filed October 5, 2026, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, San Francisco Division. The case is TradeSun, Inc. v. OpenAI OpCo, LLC and OpenAI Group PBC, No. 3:26-cv-11360, and it includes a jury demand. It pleads five claims: infringement of a registered mark under 15 U.S.C. § 1114(1), false designation of origin and false association under 15 U.S.C. § 1125(a)(1)(A), trademark infringement and unfair competition under California common law, and unfair competition under Cal. Bus. & Prof. Code § 17200 et seq. Counsel are Andrew T. Tutt and R. Stanton Jones of Trial Lawyers for Justice and Ana Juneja of Ana Law LLC, with pro hac vice applications forthcoming for Jones and Juneja. The case is assigned to Judge Trina L. Thompson, and an initial case management conference is set for January 7, 2027.

What the complaint alleges

The complaint says TradeSun, a Delaware corporation based in Del Mar, California, has used ASTRA for its AI software since at least May 2021 and owns Reg. No. 6,746,198, a standard-character registration issued May 31, 2022 from Serial No. 90/742,200, for Class 42 "Software as a service (SAAS) services featuring software using artificial intelligence for document classification, data extraction, and processing of data within any line of business software application." It says no opposition was filed, relies on 15 U.S.C. §§ 1057(b), 1072, and 1115(a) for the registration's evidentiary and notice effect, and calls the mark arbitrary for AI software. It says TradeSun sells ASTRA to banks, financial institutions, importers, and exporters for work such as reconciling transaction records, screening for financial-crime risk, and detecting fraud. USPTO records show the registration as live and owned by TradeSun, Inc. They also show a petition to cancel it, Cancellation No. 92091356, filed April 7, 2026 by BizUpUSA Holdings LLC, which was withdrawn, and the Board denied the cancellation with prejudice on July 13, 2026. The complaint does not mention that proceeding.

According to the complaint, OpenAI announced an AI model named Astra on August 7, 2026, released it commercially on September 3, 2026, and sells it as GPT-6 Astra, including through the API under the identifier "gpt-6-astra" at $10 per million input tokens and $50 per million output tokens. It points to posts by Sam Altman using "Astra" alone, to GPT-6 Astra Pro, GPT-6 Astra Law, and an Ultrafast mode, to the September 29, 2026 GPT-6.1 Sol launch advertised as "Near-Astra intelligence for a fifth of the price," to distribution through Amazon Bedrock and Azure Databricks, and to OpenAI's September 10, 2026 "ChatGPT for Financial Services" announcement. It says OpenAI has not applied to register ASTRA or any ASTRA-formative mark.

The complaint's main theory is reverse confusion: it says that because OpenAI reports more than one billion weekly active users and 2.5 million business customers, customers who meet TradeSun's ASTRA are likely to assume it is built on, licensed from, or affiliated with OpenAI, or that TradeSun copied OpenAI's name. It also pleads affiliation and forward confusion. On willfulness it alleges, on information and belief, knowledge or reckless disregard, citing the registration, OpenAI's own trademark filings, at least 89 TTAB proceedings it says OpenAI started between April 9, 2024 and September 9, 2026, and two earlier orders against OpenAI in the same district: a temporary restraining order in Baron App, Inc. v. OpenAI, Inc., No. 5:25-cv-09268 (CAMEO), and a preliminary injunction in IYO, Inc. v. IO Products, Inc., No. 3:25-cv-04861 (IO).

The prayer asks for an injunction under 15 U.S.C. § 1116 and Cal. Bus. & Prof. Code § 17203 against ASTRA, "Astra," and confusingly similar names or model identifiers for AI software, models, or services, removal of the name from products, documentation, and third-party channels, written notice of any order to distribution partners including Amazon Web Services and Microsoft and to enterprise customers, a compliance report under § 1116(a), destruction under 15 U.S.C. § 1118, OpenAI's profits, TradeSun's damages including corrective advertising and a reasonable royalty, up to three times actual damages under 15 U.S.C. § 1117(a), punitive damages under Cal. Civ. Code § 3294 on the common law claims, and attorney's fees under § 1117(a). The complaint does not say whether TradeSun intends to move for a preliminary injunction, and none appears in the complaint.