The appeal, which Elon Musk's team announced after Monday's jury verdict, is moving to the 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.
For Musk, this means that the battle is not over, with his lawyer Marc Toberoff even comparing it to the Revolutionary War, where Americans also lost the first battles, but ultimately won the entire war.
The entire appeal process and its reasons will be as follows:
How will the appeal process work?
The appeal process in the US works completely differently than the original court:
No jury or new witnesses: Elon Musk and Sam Altman will not testify again before the appeals court. No new emails or evidence will be presented.
Three-judge panel:
The case will be put on the table by three experienced federal appeals judges.
Paper Review:
The legal teams of both sides will write extensive written arguments (called briefs). The appeals court will only examine whether the original judge, Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers, made any legal or procedural errors during the three-week trial.
Oral Hearing:
The lawyers will be given a short time (usually just 15 to 30 minutes) to orally defend their written arguments and answer pointed questions from the panel of judges.
What will Musk base his appeal on?
Since the jury ruled that Musk filed the lawsuit late (missing the 3-year deadline), Musk’s team cannot appeal “that the jury was wrong.” It must challenge how the rules were applied. **Lawyers will argue the following points: **
Abuse of the statute of limitations to cover up fraud:
Musk’s team will argue that the statute of limitations should not serve as a legal shield to protect OpenAI from liability for “stealing charity.” They will try to convince the judge that in such a serious public interest (transforming a nonprofit into a giant for-profit corporation), the principle of justice should take precedence over the calendar.
Discovery Rule:
The key dispute will be when Musk actually learned of the breach of promises. While OpenAI claims that Musk knew about the commercial plans as early as 2017 and 2021, Musk argues that Sam Altman deliberately calmed him down and led him by the nose the whole time. The lawyers will try to prove that the original judge gave the jury incorrect instructions on how to judge this point in time.
Unfinished Antitrust Cases:
Musk’s lawsuit also included allegations of antitrust violations over OpenAI’s partnership with Microsoft. The judge has indicated that she considers these cases weak, but Musk’s team will try to revive them on appeal.
What are the chances and what happens next?
Original Judge Gonzalez Rogers expressed skepticism, noting that there was a huge amount of evidence presented that Musk knew about OpenAI’s direction long in advance.
The appeals court now has three options:
Uphold the verdict – OpenAI definitely wins.
Overturn the verdict and order a new trial – If the judges agree that the original judge erred in law, the entire trial would have to be repeated with new jury instructions.
Narrow or modify the scope – Remand only specific parts of the lawsuit.
This entire appeal process typically takes 12 to 18 months, so this billionaire dispute will continue for a very long time.
