In most Slavic languages, a tesla is a type of hammer (see main post picture). It’s great for pulling out nails and as a kid, grandma and I used teslas to plant potatoes on the farm. It’s also good for settling disputes. But can it be used in a lawsuit for IP infringement? Drumroll….: it depends.
Copyright
As you know, Nikolai Tesla, or Teslic, was a Serbian inventor. The name “Tesla” can be freely used, it seems. It cannot be said to be in the public domain, as it is simply a Serbo-Croatian family name. So don’t worry, you won’t get sued by Elon for copyright infringement. However…
Trademarks
The following website lists most of Tesla’s registered trademarks:
https://www.gerbenlaw.com/trademarks/cars/tesla/#98058770
In 1994, Brad Siewart trademarked the name Tesla Motors. In 2004, he initially refused to sell it to Musk, but eventually agreed for the price of $75,000. Given Tesla’s current market cap of many billions, Mr. Siewart is perhaps reconsidering his business practices.
As you can see on the website above, there are over 70 trademarks associated with the Tesla company, most of them to do with electric cars. However, Musk seems to be expanding into the “rural” market, as “cyber truck” and “giga beer” are also trademarked. At the time of writing, the cyber truck will be released in exactly 21 hours and 17 minutes. It’ll be out by the time you read this. The giga beer is already sold in limited quantities.
Because of the very specific activities of the Tesla brand, you could potentially register Tesla Yoghurt, Tesla Cat Litter, Aunt Tesla’s Floor Mats, among others. But, be warned: if you sell truck mufflers, Elon might sue you for trademark dilution.
Patents
Tesla, as you can imagine, holds a number of patents. However, they won’t sue you for infringement if you’re a cool dude (like Elon, supposedly). Translated to barely comprehensible legalese, you get: “forbearance of enforcement of Tesla’s remedies against any party for claims of infringement for so long as such party is acting in good faith.” More here: https://www.tesla.com/legal/additional-resources#intellectual-property
Their own Plain English version:
“What this pledge means is that as long as someone uses our patents for electric vehicles and doesn’t do bad things, such as knocking off our products or using our patents and then suing us for intellectual property infringement, they should have no fear of Tesla asserting its patents against them.”
Seems Elon has figured out basic principles of free market economics: patents restrict competition, stifle innovation, and create monopolies. However, unrestricted competition in electric car manufacturing will increase the general market for these products. The more developed the industry is, the more profitable Tesla will be overall. On balance, you can bet that Musk thinks he’ll profit more by not suing over patents. And he’s probably right.
Communications Law