Tesla hit by $2 billion patent troll case from Nikola Motors over semi design
16 replies, posted
Nikola Motors, a Utah-based company working on a battery-hydrogen semi truck and other electric vehicles, filed a lawsuit against Tesla claiming that they copied the design of their truck for the Tesla Semi.
The company is seeking as much as $2 billion from Tesla in what appears to be a clear case of patent trolling.
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In the complaint, Nikola alleges that Tesla’s electric truck design infringes on a series of 3 specific design patents that they recently obtained for the design of a few features of their Nikola One truck unveiled in 2016 – a year before Tesla unveiled its own electric truck.
Here are the 3 specific complaints:
They alleged that the fuselage of the Tesla Semi is similar to the one that they patented.
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The second complaint is related to Nikola’s patent for a wrap windshield on a semi truck
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The third complaint is related to the fact that Nikola patented a mid-entry door design for their truck and Tesla is also using a mid-entry door for the Tesla Semi truck
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Nikola Motors claims that Tesla’s design is creating market confusion that is stealing away orders for their truck and therefore there are damages, which they estimate at over $2 billion.
They wrote in the suit
“Tesla’s design has caused confusion among customers. The confusion has diverted sales from Nikola to Tesla. Further, any problems with the Tesla Semi will be attributed to the Nikola One, causing harm to the Nikola brand.”
The suit then mentions a series of issues from “battery fires” to “autonomous features causing fatal accidents,” which Nikola says that the market now attributes to them.
https://electrek.co/2018/05/02/tesla-semi-patent-troll-nikola-motors-design/
Nikola Motors was founded in 2015. Tesla could and probably will destroy them on the basis that the name Nikola Motors is obviously meant to confuse people with Tesla Motors.
Have Nikola even made their truck, or just drawn a picture of it? Do they have any customers to be confused by Tesla?
Should have been called Edison Motors
The USA patent system is quite shit so Nikola's patents might just get thrown out. It's relatively easy to get a patent granted, they don't do very in-depth checks of prior art compared to the EPO, so they only really get tested during oppositions in courts.
How exactly are they patent trolls though? They're actually making a product and have over 7000 preordered trucks. That's not a patent troll, it's a startup.
As for the patents, Nikola Motors has patents for its unique features for an electric truck. Tesla infringed on those patents. Nikola was a year earlier than Tesla and patented it's designs. During that year, Tesla supposedly unsuccessfully tried to recruit Nikola's chief engineer. After Tesla's released a teaser of their semi, Nikola contacted them about the patents and requested them not to unveil the semi before the infringement had been resolved. But Tesla ignored it and unveiled their semi anyway. Personally I think Tesla really deserves to lose this one. It's like walking into a minefield and ignoring all warning signs.
Those trucks look the same like any cabover truck looks the same.
There already IS an Edison Motors. They just don't make cars.
Homepage | EdisonMotors
Ever heard of prior art? Their complaints here are about broad general features that have existed in trucks well before Nikola Motors was founded.
And yet the Nikola is the only semi in it's class that looks like that and isn't a concept. Tesla's semi doesn't like any other semi, except for the Nikola. It looks like they just took most of it's unique features, changed the lines a bit and removed the grill.
How many Nikola trucks are on the road or in testing today? The only similar feature of the trucks is the aerodynamic curve and the windshield. This is about as dumb as Apple patenting bevels and rectangles. No one in the industry is going to confuse a Tesla truck for a Nikola truck. One requires hydrogen, one doesn't.
For patents it doesn't really matter if the prior art is a concept or not.
Not gonna lie the concept for the Nikoli looks way better than the actual tesla styling.
But yeah i don't know how they patented mid cab doors, since that's how every non cabover semi ever is
http://jingletruck.com/img/peterbilt-389-extended-hood-cat-6nz-18-speed-23k-miles-322016289796-0.jpg
It's like patenting round wheels. Like what the fuck else is it going to be?
Aso forgot to mention that they're comparing a truck that has am aerodynamic feature on top that many trucks already have. The actual lines of the Tesla truck are closer to a cabover when you take it off.
https://c1cleantechnicacom-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/files/2017/11/Tesla-Semi-CleanTechnica-2-620x350.jpg
That's cute now get outta here Nikola Motors.
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