A Texas federal judge on Thursday denied Apple and OpenAI's requests to toss an antitrust lawsuit that Elon Musk's xAI lodged to target a deal that integrated ChatGPT into the iPhone operating system, but suggested that resolving the suit without a jury trial may be the way to go.

U.S. District Judge Mark T. Pittman denied Apple's and OpenAI's motions to dismiss the lawsuit that accuses them of stifling competition through the allegedly "exclusive" ChatGPT integration arrangement.

Judge Pittman denied the motions "after a thorough review of the relevant docket entries and applicable law," according to his one-page order.

He wrote in the order that the court "additionally finds that the issues are more well-suited for adjudication through a motion(s) for summary judgment."

"This order should not be construed as a judgment (or pre-judgment) on the merits of this litigation," Judge Pittman continued.

X and xAI sued OpenAI and Apple in August, calling the partnership between the two companies a "tale of two monopolists" joining hands to keep rivals like xAI from competing in the generative AI space.

The partnership between Apple and OpenAI was announced in June 2024 to integrate OpenAI's flagship AI-powered ChatGPT chatbot into experiences within Apple's iPhone, iPad and Mac computer operating systems.

The Musk-owned companies asserted in the suit that iPhone users can't use competing products like xAI's Grok chatbot, even if they wanted to.

X and xAI said that as a result of Apple and OpenAI's exclusive arrangement, "ChatGPT is the only generative AI chatbot that benefits from billions of user prompts originating from hundreds of millions of iPhones."

"This makes it hard for competitors of ChatGPT's generative AI chatbot and super apps powered by generative AI chatbots to scale and innovate," the companies had alleged in their complaint.

The two companies alleged violations of the Sherman Act and the Texas Free Enterprise and Antitrust Act, and asked the court to bar Apple and OpenAI from keeping up their arrangement.

Apple and OpenAI moved to toss the suit in late September.

OpenAI chided Musk for waging "lawfare" against the company, arguing in its motion that the lawsuit was just the "latest effort by the world's wealthiest man to stifle competition in the world's most innovative industry."

Apple said in its motion that the deal is "expressly not exclusive," and that it has plans for partnerships with other companies in the future.

Apple said that xAI and X had no basis to allege that it agreed to work only with ChatGPT. It said that xAI and X's claims thus "boil down to the assertion that it was unlawful for Apple to integrate with ChatGPT first."

xAI and X argued in response that the alleged anticompetitive scheme would harm not only them and competition but consumers who, it said, are increasingly using generative AI for creating content, having an "engaging conversation" and other services.

The companies also argued that Apple and OpenAI "concede" that their agreement is exclusive by acknowledging "that no other chatbot is or ever has been integrated with" Apple's AI system Intelligence.

Even if the written agreement between Apple and OpenAI includes language stating that their arrangement is nonexclusive, what matters is what the companies "have done and continue to do," xAI and X asserted.

An OpenAI spokesperson told Law360 on Thursday that the case is "consistent with Mr. Musk's ongoing pattern of harassment and we look forward to proving this in court."

Counsel for Apple and xAI and X did not immediately respond to requests for comment Thursday evening.

X Corp. is represented by Alex More, Monica E. Gaudioso and Robert C. Rowe of Carrington Coleman Sloman & Blumenthal LLP, Bradley Justus, Caroline P. Boisvert, Craig M. Reiser, Scott A. Eisman, Eva Yung and Christopher Erickson of Axinn Veltrop & Harkrider LLP and Judd E. Stone II of Stone Hilton PLLC.

OpenAI is represented by Michael K. Hurst, Chris W. Patton and Andy Kim of Lynn Pinker Hurst & Schwegmann LLP and William Savitt, Kevin S. Schwartz and Stephen D. Levandoski of Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz.

Apple is represented by Dee J. Kelly Jr. and Julia G. Wisenberg of Kelly Hart & Hallman LLP and Emily Johnson Henn, Henry Liu, Lauren Willard Zehmer and Carol Szurkowski Weiland of Covington & Burling LLP.

The case is X Corp. et al. v. Apple Inc. et al., case number 4:25-cv-00914, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas.