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Ethereum gaming network XAI sues Elon Musk's AI company
Crypto Trends

Ethereum gaming network XAI sues Elon Musk’s AI company

by admin August 25, 2025



Ethereum gaming firm Ex Populus is taking legal action against Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence company, xAI. The name similarity has allegedly caused widespread market confusion.

Summary

  • Ex Populus sues Elon Musk’s AI company over trademark infringement.
  • The similarity in name and sector has allegedly caused widespread confusion amongst traders, with many believing the firm’s network to be part of Musk’s AI gaming firm.

The Ethereum (ETH)-based gaming network has filed a lawsuit against Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence company xAI, accusing it of trademark infringement. The Ether gaming firm behind the network, Ex Populus, announced the lawsuit via its X platform and on its community forum.

“With increased confusion around Elon Musk’s AI company, it’s a big responsibility to safeguard the brand that the community trusts,” said the official account.

Launched in 2021, Ex Populus is a game production and publishing company that focuses on blockchain-based gaming, specifically in the Ethereum ecosystem.

In 2023, the company developed a platform called Xai that enables video game developers to make use of AI-driven gaming solutions and autonomous software systems across multiple platforms. As of late, this platform has been mistaken for Elon Musk’s own artificial intelligence company, which he dubbed xAI.

XAI’s claim over Elon Musk’s trademark infringement

According to the document, Ex Populus filed the lawsuit on the grounds of trademark infringement, unfair competition and false designation of origin as well as unfair business practices. It claims to have registered the trademark since June 2023, which protects it under common law rights.

Despite the trademark, Elon Musk has continued to publicly use the name to refer to his artificial intelligence company linked to the X social media platform. On July 2023, Elon Musk announced he would create a new artificial intelligence and technology company that he named “xAI.”

As a result, many traders began mistaking Ex Populus’ network for Musk’s AI gaming venture. As the post had already reached more than 36 million viewers, it amplified consumer confusion between the two brands. Not to mention, X’s own AI assistant Grok mistakenly told users that the social media account for the Ex Populus network was linked to Musk’s AI company.

“Consumers familiar with Plaintiff’s XAI brand and its established reputation in the video gaming industry instantly began inaccurately conflating Plaintiff with Musk’s/Defendants’ “xAI” company,” wrote the company in the lawsuit filing.

XAI price analysis

After news of the lawsuit against Musk went viral, the native token experienced a drop in value. On August 25, the token dropped 5.16% from its previous daily peak. It is currently trading at $0.0499.

The sharp rejection and highlighted drop zone indicate that bears remain in control for the short term. If this level fails to hold, the next significant support could be around the $0.047–$0.048 range as it continues to dive even lower.

The Relative Strength Index currently sits at 36.89, which is close to the oversold zone. This indicates that bearish momentum is strong but could be nearing exhaustion. The RSI has been trending below its moving average, reflecting sustained weakness. However, with RSI nearing oversold territory, a short-term relief bounce is possible if buyers step in.

Price chart for XAI in the past few days, August 25, 2025 | Source: TradingView



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August 25, 2025 0 comments
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Photo: Mladen Antoniv/AFP
Product Reviews

Apple Sues Chinese Phonemaker Oppo For Alleged Trade Secrets Theft

by admin August 25, 2025


Apple is suing Chinese consumer electronics company Oppo for poaching a member of the Cupertino giant’s Apple Watch team to allegedly steal trade secrets.

Apple, represented by lawyers from Kirkland & Ellis, is bringing the lawsuit against the company’s former sensor system architect Dr. Cheng Shi, and his new employers China-based Oppo and California-based Innopeak.

Dr. Shi now leads a team developing sensing technology at Oppo’s U.S. office, according to a complaint filed by Apple on Thursday in the Northern District of California.

What is Shi accused of doing?

Dr. Shi was a highly paid engineer at Apple between January 2020 and June 2025 where Apple says he had “a front row seat to Apple’s development of its cutting-edge health sensor technology, including highly confidential roadmaps, design and development documents, and specifications for ECG sensor technology,” which helps Apple Watches measure heart activity, according to the complaint. 

Apple accuses Dr. Shi of downloading 63 confidential documents on the company’s shared drive for employees to a USB drive just three days before leaving. The documents allegedly included sensitive information on the technological capabilities of yet to be released products and “technical specifications concerning hardware and software implementations” of Apple’s sensor products like temperature sensors in its Apple Watch offerings.

Before downloading the documents from Apple’s shared drive onto his Macbook, Dr. Shi’s internet search history allegedly revealed that he looked up “how to wipe out macbook” and “Can somebody see if I’ve opened a file on a shared drive?”

Apple also claims that Dr. Shi stole confidential technical information from the team that is developing Apple’s custom chips. Apple develops its own custom silicon chips for its Mac, iPhone, and iPad products. The company has also been working on designing custom AI chips for some time now, and the effort is considered key to CEO Tim Cook’s AI overhaul.

Oppo is known for its high-tech smartphones, and the China-based company got some heat online back in 2020 for releasing what many deemed an Apple Watch clone.

Oppo’s smartphones, although ano match yet to Apple’s iPhones, do remarkably well in Asian markets, particularly in China, one of Apple’s largest markets.

Along with Huawei and Xiaomi, Oppo has eaten away at Apple’s China market share, causing Apple to fall off from the list of top five smartphone vendors in China in 2024. But the tech giant has recently started turning this narrative around: iPhone sales rose to the top spot in China in May, Reuters reported in June citing preliminary third-party data, driving an overall increase in global sales for Apple.

Although Oppo does not do business in the U.S., the company does own and operate a “research center” in Silicon Valley under both Oppo and Innopeak’s names, according to the complaint.

Oppo has not yet responded to Gizmodo’s request for comment.

What does Apple say happened?

Apple points to evidence from Dr. Shi’s work-issued phone, which allegedly shows his communications with Oppo senior leadership from April 2025 to until he left Apple at the end of June.

“This week I’ll inform my team about my resignation,” he allegedly wrote in messages included in the lawsuit. “Lately, I’ve also been reviewing various internal materials and doing a lot of 1:1 meetings in an effort to collect as much information as possible – will share with you all later.”

In the month before he left Apple, Dr. Shi allegedly scheduled 33 one-on-one meetings covering projects he was not involved in, compared to an average of seven per month a year earlier.

Then when he did resign at the end of the month, Dr. Shi did not tell colleagues that he would begin work at Oppo, but instead said that he was “returning to China to tend to his elderly parents and had no plans to seek new employment,” according to the complaint.

Apple is seeking an injunction prohibiting Oppo from using Apple’s trade secrets, and is asking the court to award restitution and damages in an amount to be determined at trial.



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August 25, 2025 0 comments
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Xai Sues Elon Musk’s xAI Over Trademark Dispute
GameFi Guides

Xai Sues Elon Musk’s xAI Over Trademark Dispute

by admin August 24, 2025



Ethereum-based gaming network Xai has filed a lawsuit against Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence company xAI, accusing it of trademark infringement and unfair competition.

The complaint, lodged in the Northern District of California on Thursday, claims Musk’s xAI company has created widespread market confusion, damaging Xai’s brand.

Ex Populus, the Delaware corporation behind Xai, said it has used the XAI trademark in US commerce since June 2023, including through its blockchain gaming ecosystem and the $XAI token. “This is a classic case of trademark infringement that requires the Court’s intervention to remedy,” the filing said.

Ex Populus operates the Xai ecosystem, which includes a blockchain-powered network designed for video gaming and digital transactions, offering infrastructure to support game logic, AI-driven decisions, rewards and data management across multiple applications, per the filing.

Xai sues Musk’s xAI. Source: XAI

Related: Elon Musk’s ‘America Party’ plans have stalled: Report

xAI gaming studio triggers further confusion

The complaint alleges that confusion began after Musk announced his company, xAI, in July 2023 and deepened when he said in November 2024 that xAI planned to launch a gaming studio.

The filing states that “marketplace confusion abounded as to whether Defendants/Musk were associated with, owned, or sponsored Plaintiff’s XAI Trademark or the associated goods and services.” It cited examples of consumers, publications and even Musk’s AI assistant Grok incorrectly linking the two ventures.

Ex Populus argued that the reputational harm goes beyond lost goodwill. The complaint says Xai has faced “significant negative consumer sentiment” due to Musk’s polarizing public image and controversies involving xAI products.

“Plaintiff is not only being irreparably harmed by the loss of control over its hard-earned goodwill in its XAI Trademark… but also Plaintiff is damaged because the confusing association with Elon Musk is resulting in significant negative consumer sentiment,” the filing notes.

Related: xAI blames code for Grok’s anti-Semitic Hitler posts

Musk’s team pressured Xai over trademark rights

The filing accuses Musk’s legal team of trying to pressure Ex Populus into relinquishing rights by threatening cancellation of its registration earlier this month.

The lawsuit also mentioned that the US Patent and Trademark Office has already suspended several of Musk’s xAI trademark applications due to a likelihood of confusion with Xai’s existing mark.

Ex Populus is seeking cancellation of xAI’s pending applications, damages for infringement, and a court order to prevent Musk’s company from using the disputed name in gaming and blockchain contexts. “There is no remedy at law for the sheer magnitude of harm Defendants have caused,” the company told the court.

Magazine: Everybody hates GPT-5, AI shows social media can’t be fixed



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August 24, 2025 0 comments
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Ryan Gosling looking worse for wear looking up lit by purple light
Product Reviews

Chicago man sues Home Depot, alleging it’s secretly using AI facial recognition at self-checkout

by admin August 24, 2025



If you’re shopping at Home Depot, you might want to watch out for facial recognition at the check-out counter. Benjamin Jankowski, a resident of Chicago, Illinois, is taking Home Depot to court after spotting the hardware store’s self-checkout kiosks using facial recognition without customers’ consent.

The class action lawsuit, filed on August 1, claims that Home Depot is violating Illinois’ 2008 Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA), and asks the court for up to $5,000 in damages from Home Depot for every violation. Considering there are 76 Home Depot locations across Illinois, those fines could total well into the millions if Jankowski wins the case.

On June 22, Jankowski visited his local Home Depot in Chicago and had to use a self-checkout kiosk since no cashiers were available. While checking out, Jankowski noticed a camera and display above the kiosk, where his face was surrounded by a green box, a common sign of facial recognition. Jankowski took a photo of the display, noting that there were no signs or notices around the store to warn customers that Home Depot was collecting biometric data.


Related articles

That goes against the requirements of the Biometric Information Privacy Act, which is designed to protect Illinois residents’ biometric data from collection and misuse by businesses. BIPA requires businesses to get written consent to collect or disclose biometric identifiers, destroy that biometric data at a certain point, and store it securely in the meantime.

A 2019 case, Rosenbach v. Six Flags, set the precedent for Illinoisans to sue companies just for unlawfully collecting their biometric data based on BIPA. In that case, a mother sued Six Flags for taking her son’s fingerprints without BIPA-compliant notice and consent. Even though Six Flags didn’t cause “actual injury” by misusing that biometric data in some way, the court still found that it committed a “technical violation” of BIPA worthy of awarding damages to Rosenbach.

That was a similar situation to what Jankowski is claiming happened during his visit to Home Depot. Both cases highlight the importance of getting people’s permission before even collecting their biometric data, regardless of how it’s used. Home Depot’s VP of Asset Protection, Scott Glenn, emphasized in a 2024 interview that the company’s use of computer vision is for security purposes, specifically stopping theft.

Even so, many people may be uncomfortable with their biometric data getting collected without their knowledge or permission. After all, if that data is somehow compromised, people have no way to change biometrics like you would change a stolen password. Of course, almost any store you go into these days could be collecting your biometric data, but as Jankowski’s case highlights, shoppers have a right (at least in Illinois) to get a fair warning about that data collection.

Keep up to date with the most important stories and the best deals, as picked by the PC Gamer team.



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August 24, 2025 0 comments
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Unknown Worlds sues former leadership team for breach of employment and "fiduciary duty of care"
Esports

Unknown Worlds sues former leadership team for breach of employment and “fiduciary duty of care”

by admin August 21, 2025


Unknown Worlds is suing its former leaders Charlie Cleveland, Adam McGuire, and Ted Gill for breach of equity purchase agreement, breach of implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing, breach of employment agreement, and breach of “fiduciary duty of care” in their capacity as directors.

Parent company Krafton sent GamesIndustry.biz a link to a heavily redacted copy of the filing in which the three former leaders of Unknown Worlds are accused of “openly threaten[ing] Krafton with litigation, and expressly demanding and prioritizing a release date for Subnautica 2, writing: “they demanded the Earnout, not the early access release that would best entice the gaming community into the Subnautica 2 world. Personal (not Company) goals were the priority for [them].”

Details of the legal complaint against Krafton, Inc. by the former leadership of Subnautica 2 developer Unknown Worlds became public last month. The complaint concerns a $250 million bonus payout tied to revenue targets for the 2025 Early Access release of Subnautica 2, which the former shareholders of Unknown Worlds Entertainment, represented by Fortis Advisors LLC – allege owners Krafton, Inc. sought to avoid paying out by delaying the game using “pressure tactics”. The publisher said it had “requested a delay” in releasing the highly-anticipated sequel in early access to “safeguard the quality of Subnautica 2 and maintain player trust.”

This subsequent lawsuit accuses the three former leaders of then threatening to self-publish Subnautica 2, “releasing it without Krafton’s backing, marketing, promotion, or distribution.” This, Krafton claims, left it with “no choice but to terminate their employment.”

The company also alleges that McGuire, Gill, and Cleveland downloaded tens of thousands of “company files” and emails in the lead up to these terminations. “These downloads were, by far, the largest downloads for each of the three Key Employees at any time since at least 2022,” Krafton added, and said the former leadership “refused” to return “or at the very least confirm” what devices and confidential information remained in their possession.

“When pushed, the Key Employees threatened to delete files and again refused to provide access to their devices containing Confidential Information for inspection,” the publisher added.

The 74-page complaint also reiterates Krafton’s former position that Cleveland and McGuire had “checked out” of developing Subnantica 2, leaving Gill unable to “overcome to complete abdication of the Subnautica 2 creative and technical leadership team.”

Read our timeline of the former Subnautica 2 leads versus Krafton here.



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August 21, 2025 0 comments
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FTC Sues Gym Chains for Making It Hard to Cancel Memberships
Gaming Gear

FTC Sues Gym Chains for Making It Hard to Cancel Memberships

by admin August 20, 2025


The Federal Trade Commission filed a lawsuit against the operators of several gym chains, including LA Fitness, on Wednesday over allegations that they make it too difficult to cancel memberships. And that’s probably welcome news for anyone who’s had the displeasure of trying to cancel with their gym.

The companies being sued by the FTC are Fitness International and Fitness & Sports Clubs, which own gym chains like Esporta Fitness, City Sports Club, and Club Studio. The largest chain, LA Fitness, has over 600 locations across the U.S.

The 22-page complaint, which has been posted online, details how the FTC believes LA Fitness and others have created a cumbersome process for consumers to cancel. For starters, members are required to log in to their website and print off a cancellation form. But users are encouraged at sign-up to use the LA Fitness app and a QR code, meaning that many people apparently don’t know their login information for the website. There’s no way to cancel through the app, according to the FTC.

Customers who don’t know how to log in with their credentials need to jump through even more hoops to get them. The user must provide the original email address used to get the membership account, the “key tag number” handed out when they signed up, and the first five digits of the bank account or credit card number listed on the account, according to the complaint.

The cancellation form isn’t made publicly available on the company’s website and can only be found after users log in. And the form must be printed out, a very real hurdle for many households in the year 2025.

Even if you figure out how to log in with your credentials and print out the form, customers are required to either mail the form or bring the form to a physical location, where they’ll face even more hurdles. The FTC says customers are required to send cancellation forms via registered or certified mail. And even though most LA Fitness locations are open seven days a week, often for 19 hours a day, cancellations are only accepted between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., when most people are at work.

Nobody really wants to take PTO to cancel their gym membership. And that’s how people can get stuck with gym memberships they no longer want.

The FTC’s press release announcing the lawsuit also alleges that LA Fitness has trained staff to reject requests to cancel by phone or email. And “consumers who try to cancel their memberships by stopping charges to their bank or credit card find they are rebilled, often under new account numbers.” The FTC says that violates the FTC Act and the Restore Online Shoppers’ Confidence Act (ROSCA). Cancelling with nothing more than a click on the app seems like it would be a reasonable and consumer-friendly way to conduct business.

“The FTC’s complaint describes a scenario that too many Americans have experienced—a gym membership that seems impossible to cancel,” Christopher Mufarrige, director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, said in a press release.

“Tens of thousands of LA Fitness customers reported difficulties—cancellation was often restricted to specific times or required speaking to specific managers who were often not present or available. The FTC will not hesitate to act on behalf of consumers when it believes companies are stifling consumers’ ability to choose which recurring charges they want to keep.”

LA Fitness is far from the only business that seems to thrive on cumbersome auto-renewal policies. How many times have you signed up for a digital subscription of some kind and failed to cancel before you were charged again? It seems like an increasingly popular business model these days. And the FTC has taken notice.

Fitness International, the operator of LA Fitness, didn’t immediately respond to questions emailed on Wednesday. Gizmodo will update this post when we hear back.



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August 20, 2025 0 comments
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Louisiana sues Roblox for allegedly choosing "profits over child safety", claiming "it's basically open season for sex predators on this app"
Game Updates

Louisiana sues Roblox for allegedly choosing “profits over child safety”, claiming “it’s basically open season for sex predators on this app”

by admin August 17, 2025


The U.S. state of Louisiana is suing Roblox, alleging it facilitates “the sexual exploitation of Louisiana’s children”.

In a statement, Louisiana Attorney General, Liz Murrill, claimed Roblox “endangers the safety of the children” of the state, writing: “Roblox is overrun with harmful content and child predators because it prioritises user growth, revenue, and profits over child safety.

“Every parent should be aware of the clear and present danger posed to their children by Roblox so they can prevent the unthinkable from ever happening in their own home.”

The legal papers then names several “highly inappropriate” Roblox mini games such as Escape to Epstein Island, Public Bathroom Simulator, and Diddy Party.

“These games and others are often filled with sexually explicit material and simulated sexual activity such as child gang rape. A recent report even revealed a group of 3,334 members openly traded child pornography and solicited sexual acts from minors,” the Louisiana announcement says, citing a 2024 report.

Roblox is violating Louisiana law – choosing profits over child safety. It’s basically open season for sex predators on this platform. pic.twitter.com/fGSQ8IFgWw

— Attorney General Liz Murrill (@AGLizMurrill) August 15, 2025

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The lawsuit claims that while Roblox requires children to have permission from their parents or guardians to open an account, the company “does nothing to confirm or document that parental permission has been given, no matter how young a child is. Nor does Defendant require a parent to confirm the age given when a child signs up to use Roblox”.

“[Roblox] has access to biometric age verification software that requires the user to take a photo of a government-issued ID along with a real-time selfie photo that is then verified through artificial intelligence,” the AG adds. “However, while Defendant utilises this software for other purposes, Defendant intentionally does not utilise this feature when new accounts are created.”

In a press conference announcing the lawsuit, Murrill said: “So [Roblox] have chosen profits over child safety. It’s basically open season for sex predators on this app. For this reason, and all of the others that we’ve talked about today, Roblox is violating Louisiana law, and that’s why we filed this lawsuit.”

Roblox said it does not comment on pending litigation, but stressed “it would like to address erroneous claims and misconceptions about our platform, our commitment to safety, and our overall safety track record”.

“Every day, tens of millions of people around the world use Roblox to learn STEM skills, play, and imagine, and have a safe experience on our platform. Any assertion that Roblox would intentionally put our users at risk of exploitation is simply untrue. No system is perfect, and bad actors adapt to evade detection, including efforts to take users to other platforms, where safety standards and moderation practices may differ. We continuously work to block those efforts and to enhance our moderation approaches to promote a safe and enjoyable environment for all users.”

It added that it is constantly innovating safety tools and launching new safeguards, has taken an industry-leading stance on age-based communication, and serves players of which 64 percent are aged 13 or over. It also dedicates substantial resources to help detect and prevent inappropriate content and behaviour, and collaborates with law enforcement and government agencies, as well as mental health organisations, child safety organisations, and parental advocacy groups “to keep users safe on the platform”.

“We know safety is critically important to families, and we strive to empower our community of parents and caregivers to help ensure a safe online experience for their children. This includes a suite of easy-to-use parental controls to provide parents with more control and clarity on what their kids and teens are doing on Roblox,” the statement concludes.

“We aim to create one of the safest online environments for users, a goal not only core to our founding values but contrary to certain assertions, one we believe is critical to our long-term vision and success. We understand there is always more work to be done, and we are committed to making Roblox a safe and positive environment for all users.”





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August 17, 2025 0 comments
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