When it comes to Musk vs. Altman, the verdict is in.

In the Oakland, Calif., trial in which Elon Musk accused Sam Altman and OpenAI of “stealing” the nonprofit in order to enrich themselves, and they accused him of sour grapes, the jury decided that Musk had waited too long to file his suit. The statute of limitations meant it was null and void.

Still, both sides come out of the three-week exercise in name-calling tarnished.

The real question raised by the trial — can these people really be trusted with a technology set to disrupt everyone’s world, possibly forever — wasn’t answered. But as tech watchers and investors pick apart the implications, one surprise winner has emerged: the suit itself.

Not the lawsuit, the suit suit.

After decades of being dismissed as a relic of the old world by the inventors of the new, a shackle meant to be shrugged off by the visionaries of the future who needed to free themselves from the jacket and tie to think their big thoughts, the importance of the suit was the one thing on which almost everyone seemingly agreed.

At least, judging from what they wore to court.

Musk, who testified first at the trial, set the tone in a black suit and matching tie rather than his usual T-shirt, jeans and aviator jacket. Greg Brockman, the president of OpenAI, wore a navy suit and blue tie instead of his typical sweater and pants. Satya Nadella, the chief executive of Microsoft, also showed up in a dark suit and glossy tie, not his usual blazer and open-collar shirt.

Then there was Altman himself, watching with his legal team and on the stand. He was not in the “gray sweater and jeans” that he recently told The New Yorker he wore every day to lessen his “decision fatigue” (and maybe to associate himself with Steve Jobs, the famous uniform-wearer), but in his own series of navy and gray suits and blue ties.