Jury rejects Musk's suit against OpenAI on statute-of-limitations grounds

A unanimous California jury sided with Sam Altman, Greg Brockman, OpenAI, and Microsoft, finding that Elon Musk waited too long to sue over OpenAI’s transition into a for-profit-affiliated entity. The verdict turned not on the substance of Musk’s accusation that his co-founders had ‘stolen a charity,’ but on the narrow legal question of timing — jurors accepted the defense’s argument that any alleged harms occurred before the 2021–2022 filing deadlines tied to each count. Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers signaled she was ready to dismiss outright, and deliberations lasted under two hours.

The ruling clears a major overhang for OpenAI ahead of its reported IPO, eliminating the threat of a court-ordered restructuring of its commercial arm. The judge also openly dismissed the methodology behind Musk’s damages expert, who had pegged wrongful gains at $78.8 billion to $135 billion by equating charitable donations with startup investments. Microsoft, named for aiding and abetting an alleged breach of charitable trust, said it remains committed to scaling AI through the partnership.

Musk framed the procedural loss as vindication on the merits, claiming on X that the only open question was when Altman and Brockman enriched themselves from a charity, and pledged an appeal to the Ninth Circuit. His lead counsel Marc Toberoff offered a one-word response: ‘Appeal.’ OpenAI’s attorney Bill Savitt called the suit a ‘hypocritical attempt to sabotage a competitor.’