Elon Musk tried to immediately block Sam Altman from reorganizing OpenAI into a for-profit company, but the move was thwarted in a U.S. federal court on Tuesday, Bloomberg reported. The judge said she was reluctant to issue an injunction in this "billionaire versus billionaire" case.

Musk’s case against OpenAI may be protracted

Musk previously filed an emergency request with the court, hoping that the court would prevent OpenAI, which he helped create a decade ago, from transforming into a more traditional for-profit public benefit company. He believes that Altman and Microsoft are trying to dominate the generative artificial intelligence industry with this move.

U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers held a three-hour hearing on Tuesday in Oakland, California. She told Musk's lawyers at the start of the hearing that she rarely issues injunctions in disputes that take months to resolve. Rogers said the argument that Musk faces "irreparable damage" in a billionaire-versus-billionaire case was "somewhat far-fetched" and that she was not inclined to block OpenAI's plans for too long in a fast-growing industry. The last time Rogers issued a preliminary injunction was for Epic's case against Apple in May 2021.

Although Rogers has not yet issued a formal order, she said,Musk may be allowed to take OpenAI to court over some of his accusations and require him to testify in court.Musk claimed that after he quit the OpenAI board of directors in 2018, OpenAI received a $13 billion investment from Microsoft, betrayed its charitable mission, and committed anti-competitive behavior. Lawyers said,The case may not be ready for trial until the end of 2026 or 2027.

OpenAI argued that Musk's claims were baseless and amounted to harassment.As the months-long battle escalated, OpenAI released a series of emails and text messages showing that Musk initially supported the company adopting a more traditional corporate structure.

If Rogers refuses to issue an injunction, it could make it harder for Musk's own xAI startup to catch up to OpenAI's huge lead in funding, which is critical for developing more advanced artificial intelligence. Since its founding in 2023, xAI’s valuation has grown to $50 billion.