(Reuters) -A federal judge on Tuesday denied Elon Musk's bid to dismiss OpenAI's claims of a "years-long harassment campaign" by the Tesla CEO against the company he co-founded in 2015 and later abandoned before ChatGPT became a global phenomenon.

In the latest turn in a court battle that kicked off last year, U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers ruled that Musk must face OpenAI's claims that the billionaire, through press statements, social media posts, legal claims and "a sham bid for OpenAI's assets" had attempted to harm the AI startup.

Musk sued OpenAI and its CEO Sam Altman last year over the company's transition to a for-profit model, accusing the company of straying from its founding mission of developing AI for the good of humanity, not profit.

OpenAI countersued Musk in April, accusing the billionaire of engaging in fraudulent business practices under California law. Musk then asked for OpenAI's counterclaims to be dismissed or delayed until a later stage in the case.

OpenAI argued in May its countersuit should not be put on hold, and the judge on Tuesday concluded that the company's allegations were legally sufficient to proceed.

A jury trial has been scheduled for spring 2026.

(Reporting by Deborah Sophia in Bengaluru; Editing by Devika Syamnath)