Elon Musk’s brain-computer interface (BCI) implant startup Neuralink has filed applications with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) to trademark the terms “Telepathy,” “Blindsight,” and “Telekinesis.”
The applications, filed in early March, pertain to Neuralink’s first product, Telepathy, a brain-computer interface that aims to allow users to control devices with their thoughts; Blindsight, an implant that aims to restore vision in individuals who are blind; and Telekinesis, a term Musk has used interchangeably with Telepathy relating to controlling devices using one’s mind.
Neuralink’s PRIME study (short for Precise Robotically Implanted Brain-Computer Interface) involves the placement of a small, cosmetically invisible implant in the area of a person’s brain that plans movements. The N1 implant is designed to interpret one’s neural activity to assist them in operating a computer or smartphone by simply intending to move.
Telepathy was first achieved in 2024 during the PRIME study after 29-year-old quadriplegic Noland Arbaugh became the first person to receive one of Neuralink’s implants. The implant resulted in Arbaugh having the ability to play chess and video games hands-free.
Two other individuals have since been implanted with the BCI through the PRIME study.
“Combined, the PRIME Study participants have now had their Links implanted for over 670 days and used Telepathy for over 4,900 hours,” Neuralink said in a blog post.
“These hours encompass use during scheduled research sessions with the Neuralink team and independent use for everyday activities. Independent use indicates how helpful the Link is for real-world applications and our progress towards our mission of restoring autonomy. Last month, participants used the Link independently for an average of 6.5 hours per day.”
Neuralink’s experimental implant Blindsight received FDA breakthrough device designation last year. The device implants a microelectrode array into the visual cortex of a person’s brain. The array then activates neurons, providing the individual with a visual image.
According to Musk, the device will allow individuals, even those who have lost sight in both eyes and their optic nerve, to see as long as their visual cortex is intact. It will enable individuals blind from birth to see for the first time.
The visual cortex is the part of one’s brain that receives and processes visual information from the retina.
“To set expectations correctly, the vision will be at first be low resolution, like Atari graphics, but eventually it has the potential be better than natural vision and enable you to see in infrared, ultraviolet or even radar wavelengths, like [Star Trek’s character] Geordi La Forge,” Musk wrote on X.
THE LARGER TREND
The company previously sought trademarks for the terms Link, R1, and N1. Link refers to the company’s brain-computer interface, N1 refers to the electrode array implanted in the brain and R1 refers to the surgical robot used to implant the BCI into the brain.
In November, Neuralink announced it received approval from Health Canada to perform a clinical trial on its N1 brain implant and R1 robot.
The “Canadian Precise Robotically Implanted Brain-Computer Interface” (CAN-PRIME) study will be performed by the University Health Network (UHN) hospital at its Toronto Western Hospital.
CAN-PRIME will assess the safety of the company’s N1 implant and R1 surgical robot, used to place each of the 64 threads of the N1 implant into a patient’s brain.
That same month, the company announced on X that it received approval to launch a feasibility study, CONVOY, which will test the use of its wireless BCI, or N1 implant, to control an investigational assistive robotic arm.
