If you are building a tech startup today, it can feel almost impossible to avoid buzzwords. AI, GPT, LLM, Copilot, Neural, Smart. These terms signal innovation, attract investors, and instantly place a product inside a fast growing market. It is no surprise that many startups try to include them directly in their product or company names.
The problem is that the same words that build credibility often create serious trademark issues. In many cases, they cannot be protected at all. In others, they invite legal disputes with companies that are already fighting to control the same language.
Why buzzwords never make good trademarks
Trademark law is built around one core idea: a trademark must help consumers identify the source of a product or service. That means the name has to be distinctive. It cannot simply describe what the product is or how it works.
Buzzwords usually fail this test.
Terms like “AI” or “GPT” describe technologies, methods, or categories that many companies use. When a word becomes common industry language, trademark offices are reluctant to give any one company exclusive rights to it. Granting that protection would unfairly block competitors from accurately describing their own products.
The GPT example and what it teaches startups
OpenAI’s attempt to trademark “GPT” shows how difficult it is to claim ownership over a term that becomes widely used. GPT stands for Generative Pre-trained Transformer, which is a technical description of a type of language model. Long before ChatGPT became famous, the term was already used by researchers and developers to describe a model architecture, not a brand.
When OpenAI applied to register “GPT” and related terms, the challenge was not their reputation or success. It was the nature of the word itself. Trademark examiners look at how a term is used across the industry, and “GPT” is often used descriptively rather than as a brand identifier.
Even if a company is closely associated with a term in the public eye, that does not automatically make it registrable. A trademark must point to a single commercial source, not a category of technology.
This is why the USPTO initially rejected OpenAI’s application and why dozens of other applications containing “GPT” for software related classes continue to get rejected on a daily basis. The word has become a shared language, and shared language is hard to lock down.
Why descriptive tech terms weaken your brand
There is also a long term branding issue that goes beyond legal risk. Descriptive names are hard to defend and hard to differentiate.
If your product name tells users exactly what technology you use, it does not tell them why you are different. Over time, as the technology becomes standard, the name loses its impact. From a trademark standpoint, that same descriptiveness makes enforcement difficult. It is much harder to stop others from using a term that the law considers generic or descriptive.
Strong tech brands tend to use suggestive or invented names that hint at innovation without naming the technology directly. These names are easier to trademark, easier to defend, and more flexible as products evolve.
Takeaway for tech entrepreneurs
Using popular tech terms in branding feels safe because everyone else is doing it. In reality, that is exactly what makes it risky. The more common a word becomes, the weaker it is as a trademark.
Before committing to a name that includes AI, GPT, or similar buzzwords, founders should ask a simple question: does this name identify our brand, or does it just describe the technology we use? If it is the second, the trademark protection will likely be weak or unavailable.
One of the easiest ways to avoid this mistake is to check a name early, before investing in product launches, marketing, or app store listings. Submitting your brand name for a free lawyer’s check can quickly reveal whether it is distinctive enough to protect or likely to run into problems later.