Tesla Semi rival Nikola sues for $2 billion over alleged patent infringement

[S'toon]

Electrek points out that the concepts that Nikola is suing about have been around for decades.
Tesla is hit by $2 billion patent troll case from Nikola Motors over the design of the Tesla Semi

Now we know why Nikola refunded all those deposits. They were planning to get the money they needed from Tesla.

I've been puzzled about Nikola's development strategy. Having hydrogen, and building the refuelling stations themselves? Seems like vapourware. Now I'm wondering if they're nothing more than a scam like some other EV startups that have been around.

 

[Olle]

So it took 31 days for this suit to reach the news from April 1st.

Holy cow how funny this is. Especially the part that Tesla battery fires and Auto pilot accidents are now associated with Nikola for the brand confusion. This is beyond SNL material

 

[McRat]

Nikola is going to lose this one. Trade dress won't work, and aerodynamics are difficult to defend since there is so much prior art.

Trade dress is the look or image of your product aimed at misleading customers. However, nothing in the shape can be functional. It has to be artistic only. Aero shapes aren't artistic if tested or using proven past knowledge.

Nikola WILL have a suit if there are any non-aero styling cues copied. Bet they would lose.

 

[EliMTA]

This seems like a fake lawsuit intended for PR purposes. They have no chance at winning this. Nice PR move though, suing Tesla for $2 Billion dollars will get you in the news for sure.

 

[mongo]

This seems like a fake lawsuit intended for PR purposes. They have no chance at winning this. Nice PR move though, suing Tesla for $2 Billion dollars will get you in the news for sure.

More free advertising for Tesla. "Hey everyone, Tesla is making this semi that took all of our good features, and none of the infrastructure problems".

 

[EliMTA]

Electrek points out that the concepts that Nikola is suing about have been around for decades.
Tesla is hit by $2 billion patent troll case from Nikola Motors over the design of the Tesla Semi

Now we know why Nikola refunded all those deposits. They were planning to get the money they needed from Tesla.

I've been puzzled about Nikola's development strategy. Having hydrogen, and building the refuelling stations themselves? Seems like vapourware. Now I'm wondering if they're nothing more than a scam like some other EV startups that have been around.

I was very much perplexed by the refund of deposits by Niloka - and I'm not buying their official spin.

 

[JohnSnowNW]

I was very much perplexed by the refund of deposits by Niloka - and I'm not buying their official spin.

The thing is most of those deposits were taken before they switched to H2, and they had claimed that they had halted taking deposits at around the ~8k mark. I always thought it was odd that they stopped taking deposits, and months later announce that they're refunding the money because they don't need it...

Nothing about their spin seems to make much sense.

 

[Xcelerator]

How many trucks has Nikola pre sold? Oh, zero? I see. Maybe Tesla should counter sue for $3 billion dollars because Nikola stole the first name of Tesla's name sake and being in the same business, they have infringed on the trade name and caused confusion among buyers. I like that case quite a bit more than this design claim. These two vehicles share about 4 things in common. Black, Gray, semi-trucks, aerodynamic design. There are plenty of other semi truck designs that are closer looking that Nikola's claim. Here is one.

 

[mongo]

I was very much perplexed by the refund of deposits by Niloka - and I'm not buying their official spin.

Yar, I could see many depositors asking for refund post Tesla Semi, so they spun it to give everyone a refund and take a swipe at Tesla.

I do feel bad for them in that they did spend a lot of effort, made a demo product, and then had the rug/ business case pulled out from under them.

 

[Yggdrasill]

Yar, I could see many depositors asking for refund post Tesla Semi, so they spun it to give everyone a refund and take a swipe at Tesla.

I do feel bad for them in that they did spend a lot of effort, made a demo product, and then had the rug/ business case pulled out from under them.

That's sad, sure, but they shouldn't have bet on hydrogen. That was an extremely bad idea.

 

[HankLloydRight]

I was searching around and stumbled upon this mutant rendering:
(from: Tesla Talks Self-Driving Trucks)

Some things you just can't unsee.

 

[jelloslug]

I was searching around and stumbled upon this mutant rendering:
(from: Tesla Talks Self-Driving Trucks)

Some things you just can't unsee.

Some people should not be allowed to have access to photoshop.

 

[ggr]

So it took 31 days for this suit to reach the news from April 1st.

Holy cow how funny this is. Especially the part that Tesla battery fires and Auto pilot accidents are now associated with Nikola for the brand confusion. This is beyond SNL material

Yeah, hydrogen fires don't count.

 

[Olle]

Excerpt from paragraph 125 in the suit "any problems with the Tesla Semi will be attributed to the Nikola One, causing harm to the Nikola brand. For example, Tesla has had problems with its batteries starting fires"

Let's see. Nikola is suing Tesla because of the shape of a truck... leading to brand confusion with Tesla... and therefore Nikola's truck becomes associated with battery fires that happened in, not trucks, but Tesla passenger cars... 5 years ago...

Conversely, you could say that since Tesla vehicles have had 8 times fewer vehicle fires than the average vehicle, Nikola owes Tesla 8 times something of something, for now being associated with the Tesla brand. Oh no, did I paint myself into a corner now?

Also since I drive a Tesla, I am now personally associated with Nikola since both names belonged to the famous Nikola Tesla. Since Nikola uses hydrogen, I am now associated with Hindenburg which exploded because of hydrogen, which is negative for my personal brand so I must sue Nikola for $10 billion

 

[Peter Thomas]

Just in time for the earnings call tonight, likely coordinated with the hedge funds growing short position.

 

[Yggdrasill]

Just in time for the earnings call tonight, likely coordinated with the hedge funds growing short position.

Well, the fact that the share price is *up* says a lot about how credible investors assess this lawsuit to be.

 

[Olle]

This seems like a fake lawsuit intended for PR purposes. They have no chance at winning this. Nice PR move though, suing Tesla for $2 Billion dollars will get you in the news for sure.

Yeah, perhaps they thought any PR is good PR as we've learned from our president's business ventures over the years. But in this lawsuit, Nikola crossed the line into where it's just so dumb that all faith in the company is lost. Especially in the business to business market, this was probably a bad move.

 

[brkaus]

Maybe they will send in sharks, yea, sharks with lasers.

 

[Skotty]

The last refuge of a dying company. Lawsuits against anyone in range. I guess Nikola is in worse shape than I thought.

 

[SMAlset]

I remember when Nikola Motors announced the refund of deposits and trying to take a swipe at Tesla. I suspect deposit holders saw an electric semi and simply preferred that over a hydrogen semi that still needed to establish a whole country-wide infrastructure of charging stations where as electrical systems are already in trucking warehouses across the country. So for me I see this as a choice to go with a more readily accessible source for power, and with a company that has been producing proven vehicles, has proven battery and storage technology and was shown driving on the road. Tesla's semi version also has a lot of nice features that I'm sure also helped sway buyers. Just because you have someone willing to put down a deposit doesn't mean those deposits will convert to sales come production time.

I personally don't see hydrogen being a desired fuel source. I get that there are people/companies invested in promoting including big names like Toyota but as an end consumer I will still chose electric battery over hydrogen for a multitude of reasons. I see the same valid reasons for the commercial sector.

I don't see this as being a design lawsuit based in fact. I think this is a move, coincidentally filed on the eve of Tesla's quarterly reporting (yeah right), aimed to inflict some pain at a competitor to stay news relevant and hoping for some settlement to help fund their company.