The US Patent and Trademark Workplace has rejected Neuralink’s try to trademark the product names Telepathy and Telekinesis, citing pending purposes by one other particular person for a similar logos.
Neuralink, the mind implant firm cofounded by Elon Musk, filed to trademark the names in March. However in letters despatched to Neuralink in August, the trademark workplace is refusing to permit the purposes to maneuver ahead. It says Wesley Berry, a pc scientist and a cofounder of the tech startup Prophetic, beforehand filed trademark purposes for Telepathy in Might 2023 and Telekinesis in August 2024. Prophetic is constructing a wearable headset to induce lucid dreaming, however solely Berry is the creator of the trademark purposes, not Prophetic. (Berry declined to remark for this story.)
In response to Neuralink’s software for Telepathy, the trademark workplace additionally references the present trademark for Telepathy Labs, a Tampa-based firm that gives interactive voice and chatbot expertise to companies.
Musk’s Neuralink, in the meantime, is creating a brain-computer interface that entails a tool, surgically implanted within the cranium, that collects mind exercise. The corporate has been utilizing the title Telepathy to explain its first product, which is designed to permit paralyzed folks the flexibility to function their telephones and computer systems with simply their ideas. Musk unveiled the Telepathy title in a January 2024 social media post, shortly after the corporate implanted its first volunteer with the expertise. A complete of 9 folks now have the Neuralink machine, in keeping with a July announcement. (Neuralink didn’t reply to a request for remark.)
Each Berry and Neuralink filed “intent-to-use” purposes, which permit companies and inventors to order trademark rights earlier than utilizing the mark in commerce. Berry’s software for Telepathy was accepted in December 2024 and for Telekinesis in August 2025 however the logos aren’t absolutely registered till he exhibits that he’s really utilizing them in commerce. Berry has three years to try this from acceptance, in any other case his purposes could be thought of deserted and Neuralink’s software would take precedence.
Berry has not marketed nor commercialized a product referred to as Telepathy or Telekinesis, however in his trademark purposes describes each as “software program that analyzes EEG to decode inside dialogue to manage laptop or cellular units.” EEG, or electroencephalogram, knowledge refers back to the electrical exercise of the mind recorded by way of electrodes worn on the scalp.
The trademark workplace’s letters to Neuralink aren’t remaining choices. Neuralink filed a response letter on August 28 addressing the present Telepathy Labs trademark, saying that Neuralink’s Telepathy product just isn’t more likely to be confused with Telepathy Labs. Neuralink didn’t deal with Berry’s purposes in its response.
“The usual for probability of confusion is, if a random client encountered each of those merchandise, would they assume that they’re coming from the identical firm?” says Heather Antoine, an mental property companion at Stoel Rives in Sacramento, California.
The trademark workplace will contemplate Neuralink’s response and resolve if there’s a probability of confusion. However there’s nonetheless the truth that Berry filed to register the Telepathy and Telekinesis marks first. If Berry succeeds in registering the marks, Neuralink would have a number of choices. It may try to purchase the logos from Berry or negotiate a consent settlement, during which Berry may agree to permit Neuralink to additionally use the marks. Some of these agreements are normally made when the logos aren’t more likely to trigger client confusion.
If Berry is profitable in registering Telepathy, Neuralink may very well be sued if the corporate continues to make use of it.
Josh Gerben, a trademark lawyer and founding father of Gerben IP in Washington, DC, says it’s troublesome to understand how issues will shake out as a result of there’s plenty of nuance to a trademark declare. “Definitely in the mean time, although, benefit goes to this different applicant,” he says, referring to Berry. “He may grow to be a substantial thorn within the facet of Neuralink when it comes to these logos.”
