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The order is in Baron App, Inc. d/b/a Cameo v. OpenAI, Inc. et al., Case No. 25-cv-09268-EKL, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.
What the court ordered
The court granted Cameo’s motion for a preliminary injunction. The order prevents OpenAI from using the CAMEO mark in connection with the Sora application in the United States while the trademark litigation proceeds. It is not a permanent, worldwide ban on the word and does not decide every issue in the lawsuit.
OpenAI had already renamed the disputed feature after an earlier temporary restraining order issued on November 21, 2025. The preliminary-injunction order records that rename as compliance with the earlier order. The court also required Cameo to post a $100,000 bond under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 65(c), rather than the $1 million bond OpenAI requested.
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OpenAI told the court that removing the name would cost approximately $10,000 to $40,000 in engineering work. That estimate appears in the order; it is not a finding that the underlying video-generation capability had to be removed.
Who sued whom
The plaintiff is Baron App, Inc., doing business as Cameo. The defendants are OpenAI, Inc., OpenAI Global, LLC, OpenAI, LLC, OpenAI OpCo, LLC, and OpenAI GP, LLC. Cameo asserted federal and state trademark-infringement and dilution claims, along with unfair-competition claims.
Cameo filed its complaint on October 28, 2025. The preliminary-injunction order was filed and dated February 14, 2026. A preliminary injunction means the judge found interim relief justified before a full trial; it does not establish final liability.
What Sora’s disputed feature did
OpenAI announced an updated application, referred to in the order as Sora 2, on September 30, 2025. One feature was called “Cameo.” Users could create a virtual likeness of themselves and place that likeness in personalized AI-generated videos. OpenAI also used “cameo” for the likeness and for the resulting videos.
The dispute was not simply whether Sora could generate a brief appearance in a video. The trademark question was whether naming an app-defining feature “Cameo,” in a celebrity-oriented video context, could make consumers think the feature was sponsored by, affiliated with, or connected to Cameo.
Why Cameo said the names were confusing
Cameo operates a digital marketplace connecting fans with celebrities and other public figures for personalized videos. Customers can request birthday greetings, marriage proposals, apologies, answers to questions, readings, roasts, or prepared scripts. The resulting products are marketed as “Cameos” or “Cameo Videos.”
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Cameo argued that its brand promises an authentic interaction with participating talent. Sora’s feature could instead produce synthetic videos involving virtual likenesses, including celebrity-style content. The overlap in terminology, audiences, celebrity promotion, and personalized video experiences formed the basis of Cameo’s claimed consumer confusion and brand harm.
How the judge analyzed trademark confusion
Applying the Ninth Circuit’s multi-factor framework commonly called the Sleekcraft test, Judge Lee found that the factors weighed heavily toward Cameo at the preliminary stage.
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Cameo owns a federally registered trademark. OpenAI did not dispute that it used the term in connection with the Sora application. The marks were visually and phonetically identical, which made the naming issue more direct than a case involving merely similar words.
Related services and overlapping channels
The court found the services and user experiences sufficiently related: both involved personalized video content and celebrity-oriented promotion. Their marketing channels and promotional strategies also overlapped. Those similarities supported a likelihood that users could infer a business relationship even if the products were not identical.
Forward confusion
The judge focused on possible forward confusion—consumers believing OpenAI’s feature was sponsored by, affiliated with, or connected to Cameo. The court did not need proof that every user was actually confused. A likelihood of confusion can support preliminary relief before a full trial.
Strength of the Cameo mark
The order describes the mark as conceptually relatively weak because “cameo” has an ordinary meaning. But the court found substantial commercial strength based on Cameo’s marketplace and branding. That marketplace recognition mattered in assessing whether use of the same term in a related setting could imply affiliation.
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What the surveys showed—and what they did not show
Both sides submitted consumer surveys, and each challenged the other side’s methodology. The judge considered the surveys as part of the overall record rather than treating any one percentage as a definitive measure of all Sora users.
| Survey | Reported result | How to read it |
|---|---|---|
| OpenAI in-app survey | 10% confusion, adjusted to 7% | OpenAI’s evidence; methodology disputed in the litigation |
| OpenAI webpage survey | 0% confusion | OpenAI’s evidence; considered alongside the other record |
| Cameo expert survey | 14% confusion | Cameo’s evidence; methodology disputed in the litigation |
These figures do not mean that 14% of all consumers were objectively confused. They are litigation surveys conducted for competing parties. The court also emphasized that proof of actual confusion was not required to find likely confusion.
OpenAI’s descriptive-use defense
OpenAI argued that “cameo” was being used descriptively to identify a type of appearance or feature, not as a trademark. It also objected to the idea that one company could control an ordinary dictionary word.
The judge rejected that defense for purposes of the preliminary injunction. OpenAI used “Cameo” as the name of a prominent, app-defining feature and promoted it in a context resembling Cameo’s personalized celebrity videos. On the record before the court, OpenAI had not shown that this use was objectively fair.
Does Cameo own the word “cameo”?
No. The order expressly says that restricting OpenAI’s use in the circumstances presented does not prevent the public from using cameo in its ordinary descriptive sense.
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- Trademark use: using “Cameo” as a product or feature name in a way that may suggest commercial affiliation.
- Descriptive use: describing a brief appearance in a film, show, event, or other work.
The injunction addresses the first situation as it relates to Sora in the United States. It does not give Cameo a monopoly over every ordinary sentence containing the word.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Why the court found irreparable harm
Cameo argued that continued use could damage its goodwill and weaken the association between its brand and authentic celebrity interactions. The judge accepted that Cameo had shown a likelihood of harm to its reputation and control over the brand. The order also discusses concerns raised in the record about realistic celebrity deepfakes generated through Sora.
Those findings do not independently establish a measured loss of Cameo revenue or prove that every Sora video caused damage. They explain why the court viewed money damages alone as potentially inadequate while the case continued.
What the ruling does not mean
- It is not a final verdict after trial.
- It is not a worldwide prohibition on OpenAI using “Cameo.”
- It does not prohibit ordinary descriptive use of cameo by the public or other businesses.
- It does not necessarily require removal of Sora’s underlying video-generation capability.
- It does not establish that every AI feature using the word infringes Cameo’s trademark.
- It does not show that OpenAI admitted infringement.
What happens next
The trademark case remained ongoing when the February 14 order was entered. Possible later developments include a final judgment, settlement, appeal, or a different injunction. The available order confirms the preliminary injunction and the earlier temporary restraining order, but it does not establish any later disposition.
OpenAI disagreed with the assertion that anyone could claim exclusive ownership of “cameo” and said it intended to continue making its case, according to Engadget’s February 18, 2026 report.
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Why the decision matters beyond this lawsuit
AI product naming
Companies may become more cautious about naming generative-AI features after established consumer brands, especially where the products address similar audiences and use similar marketing language. A quick rename can be necessary even before a final ruling.
Synthetic celebrity likenesses
Products that generate celebrity-style or user likeness videos may face overlapping questions about trademarks, publicity rights, consent, and platform policies. The injunction itself resolves only the trademark-use issue presented here.
Early brand protection
The case illustrates how a brand owner can seek a preliminary injunction to prevent potentially confusing use before a product reaches full scale. The remedy is temporary and requires a showing of likely success and irreparable harm, not a completed trial.
Key dates and figures
| Event | Date or amount |
|---|---|
| Sora 2 announcement | September 30, 2025 |
| Cameo complaint filed | October 28, 2025 |
| Temporary restraining order | November 21, 2025 |
| Preliminary-injunction order | February 14, 2026 |
| Bond required from Cameo | $100,000 |
| Jurisdiction covered by the order | United States, in connection with Sora |
The Bottom Line
The accurate takeaway is narrower than the headline: Cameo won a preliminary injunction requiring OpenAI to stop using “Cameo” for the Sora feature in the United States while the trademark case continues. The ruling concerns potentially confusing branding, not ownership of the ordinary word or a final decision on OpenAI’s overall liability.
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