Looks like Tesla is having Apple's deja vu over trademark lawsuits in China. An opportunistic trademark troll bought the rights to "Tesla" and is fighting the Palo Alto, Calif.-based company off.
Tesla is seemingly in a trademark tussle with Zhan Baosheng, according to Chinese publication Want China Times, in an effort to enter the market. Baosheng's patent specifically bars anyone from using the name for 12 different categories of land, sea, and air vehicles. Tesla, which makes electric-powered cars, may be able to get around his financial demands by proving that Baosheng hasn't used the trademark for three consecutive years.
A spokesperson from Tesla told VentureBeat in an email, "We have no comment."
Apple recently had the same issue in China regarding its iPad trademark. Proview, a Chinese electronics company that had some financial issues, owned the trademark and demanded $400 million from Apple to hand it over. Apple fought the company for almost six months, during which time some iPads were removed from store shelves. Finally, in June, Proview accepted a settlement offer of $60 million -- significantly less than the $400 million it wanted, but likely significantly more than what Apple really wanted to pay.
Baosheng is reportedly getting evidence of his use of the trademark together now in order to fight off Tesla.