Posted on 05/02/2018 11:50:18 AM PDT by Red Badger
Photo: Nikola Motor Company _____________________________________________________________________________________
Nikola Motor Company has filed a lawsuit in Arizona alleging that Teslas all-electric Semi infringes on the hydrogen truck startups patents. The lawsuit claims Tesla willfully copied these patents in creating its electric truck, and Nikola is seeking $2 billion in damages in return.
Its patently obvious there is no merit to this lawsuit, a spokesperson for Tesla told The Verge. A representative for Nikola Motors said in a statement to The Verge that [w]e are not commenting because it is in the courts. The lawsuit speaks for itself.
Nikola was founded in 2014, and the company showed off its first two products an electric four-wheel offroad vehicle and a hydrogen-electric semi truck in May 2016. It has since added a second semi truck to its eventual lineup, teased some all-electric personal watercraft, and announced plans for a $1 billion factory in Arizona. "Nikola has sparred with Tesla before"
The complaint filed by Nikola lays out a number of claims that, viewed together, the company says prove Tesla cribbed from the startups patents. Nikola points to supposed similarities in the trucks front fenders, wraparound windshields, mid-entry doors, aerodynamic fuselage (with similar drag coefficients), and more as evidence that Tesla copied its design. It also claims that a recruiter for Tesla, Aaron Hoyos, tried to poach Nikolas chief engineer just a few months after the startup unveiled its hydrogen semi truck, and that this is evidence that Tesla was aware of Nikolas unique design features.
Additionally, Nikola says it was able to identify that Teslas truck might be infringing on its designs from spy shots that littered the internet in the weeks leading up to Teslas mid-November 2017 reveal. The startup says it sent a cease and desist letter (which is included as an exhibit in the lawsuit) to Tesla on November 7th asking the company to delay its announcement until the issue was resolved, but that Tesla never responded.
Nikola says that Teslas truck is causing confusion in the market, and claims that Teslas infringement has harmed Nikolas ability to attract investors and partners because investors can now partner with Tesla to have an alternative fuel semi-truck. The damage from this alleged infringement, per Nikolas calculations, is in excess of $2 billion.
Nikola has sparred with Tesla before, including how it chose to use the first name of the same famous investor when founding the company. Most recently, Nikola claimed in April that, while it has over $8 billion in preorders for the different versions of its semi trucks, all those reservations will be refunded 100% and the startup wont use your money to operate our business statements that appear to be obvious barbs at Tesla, which holds nearly $1 billion in customer deposits for the Model 3 and other various announced products, according to recent filings.
Very wide consensus that this is patent trolling. They’re trying to claim patents for wrap-around front windshield and other design elements which have existed previously, NOT for any core Tesla technology.
The funny part is that their name is even a play off of Tesla. (Nicola was Tesla’s first name.)
The Wright Brothers tried to patent flying.
When I worked for a cell phone service provider I worked with the legal department. One thing they had to constantly deal with was patent trolls. They would scour our phones’ physical design to identify attributes that were not patented. They would then file a patent for the design, and when granted, sue us for patent infringement.
Or something like that.
.
Nikola v Tesla
Who writes this stuff?
Thomas Edison..................
Without Edison’s light bulb,
how would cartoonists depict
someone having an epiphany?
If it had not been Edison, it would have been someone else. He was not the only one experimenting at the time, he was just the first one to the patent office.................
In answer to my own question,
I’m thinking a candle.
Prior to Edison’s light bulb, the internationally recognized symbol for ‘education’ and learning, was an old fashioned oil lamp, like Alladin’s lamp.....................
Yep - they ride off Tesla’s name with the “Nikola and then claim patent infringement because an electric truck has more potential than their Hydrogen truck.....like, who’s zoomin’ who here as far as copying?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.