Law

Tesla Being Sued for Patent Infringement

Another patent infringement case has hit the news, this time between Tesla and the hydrogen truck startup, Nikola Motors. Tesla is facing a $2 billion patent infringement lawsuit for stealing designs.

Nikola Motors claims that Tesla stole their hydrogen truck design and brought the case to the Arizona Federal Court in the beginning of May. In November of 2017, Tesla’s electric semi-truck was unveiled. The lawsuit by Nikola Motors states that Tesla infringed on their patent of their semi-truck design including the mid-entry door, fuselage and a wrap windshield.

Back in May of 2016, Nikola Motors posted about the driverless hydrogen fuel cell powered truck that they developed and designed. Nikola Motors claims that four months after they published their first design, a recruiter from Tesla reached out to the Chief Engineer of Nikola Motors. The claim reports that the recruiter mentioned that the engineer’s background would be a good fit with Tesla as they are building their own version of the truck.

Tesla released teaser photos of their own truck in April 2017, that similarly mirrored Nikola Motor’s truck. Nikola Motors sent Tesla a letter asking them to not reveal any more about their truck until the patent infringement lawsuit was resolved. Apparently, Tesla never responded. The lawsuit is still in progress as we await the court’s decision.

The stealing of ideas and designs can happen quite often. This is why it is always important to speak with a patent attorney in Scottsdale if you have a new idea or design that you want to launch. You should also always seek legal advice if you think that your patent has been infringed upon. There are steps you can take to resolve the issue and a patent attorney will have the answers and know what steps to properly take.