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Elon Musk’s lawyers succeed in challenge to remove OpenAI case judge

🌈 Abstract

The article discusses the removal of the California judge presiding over Elon Musk's lawsuit against OpenAI and its CEO, Sam Altman.

1. Why was the judge disqualified from the case?

The California judge, Ethan Schulman, was disqualified from the case after Musk's lawyers cited a California state law that allows plaintiffs and defendants to remove a judge they believe cannot grant an impartial trial.
The law, known as California Code of Civil Procedure 170.6, does not require the person issuing the challenge to provide any factual basis for their claim that the judge is prejudiced against them.

2. What are the implications of the judge's disqualification?

The judge's disqualification is significant because the case was designated as a complex civil litigation, meaning a single judge would hear the case rather than a jury.
Schulman was one of only two judges in San Francisco currently assigned to hear complex cases, so his removal is consequential.

1. What is the basis of Musk's lawsuit against OpenAI and Sam Altman?

Musk filed a lawsuit against Altman, his former OpenAI co-founder, alleging that the ChatGPT maker had breached a "founding agreement" to work for the betterment of humanity and instead pursued private commercial success.

2. What are the key arguments from both sides?

Musk alleges that Altman took the original mission of OpenAI to create a non-profit company that widely shared its technology with the public, and instead closed off its models and took investment deals with Microsoft that turned it into a largely for-profit entity.
Altman and OpenAI have countered that there was no such "founding agreement" as Musk claims and accused him of professional jealousy over the company's success since his departure.

3. What is the current status of the lawsuit?

The case is now set to be reassigned to a new judge, and previous dates scheduled for it have been vacated.

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