Elon Musk's Tesla moves Delhi HC alleging trademark infringement

NEW DELHI: Tesla, owned by Elon Musk, has filed a lawsuit in the Delhi High Court against Tesla Power, a company based in Gurugram, for allegedly infringing on its trademark.

Tesla Inc. is a multinational company known as 'TESLA'. It is registered under the laws of Delaware, United States of America. The company has initiated legal action by filing a trademark suit and seeking a permanent injunction and damages under the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908.

Earlier, in April 2022, Tesla issued a cease-and-desist order to Tesla Power India and Tesla Power USA. It is alleged in their suit that despite continued communications between the parties, the defendant company continued to market and sell its products using the Tesla trademark.

A cease-and-desist notice is a document issued to an individual or business instructing them to stop and refrain from continuing the purportedly unlawful action ("cease").

This notice indicates that legal action may be taken against the recipient if they persist in performing specific actions within the dates specified in the notice.

Senior Counsel for Elon Musks Tesla argued that the defendants have announced to enter into their core market i.e. Electronic Vehicles, business category.

However, the counsel for Tesla Power (Gurugram) argued that their area predominantly lies in Lead Acid Batteries which are supplied for automobiles, inverters, and UPS and that they do not manufacture any electric vehicles (EVs) of any nature and that the advertisements that were issued were in respect of a marketing alliance that they had with another manufacturer of EVs being E-Ashwa.

He further states that they will not issue any promotional advertisements or material in relation to EV vehicles under their brand name/ tradename. He further undertakes that defendants shall not use the registered device/logos of TESLA. The said undertaking is taken on record and the defendants will be bound by it.

The Court directed the counsels for the Defendants to file a response, if any, within three weeks in the application for permanent injunction and to list the matter on 22nd May 2024.