Tesla Hit With a $2 Billion Lawsuit for Allegedly Stealing Nikola's Hydrogen Truck Design

[avg123]

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Hydrogen truck startup Nikola Motor has hit Tesla (TSLA, +2.27%) with a $2 billion patent infringement lawsuit that accuses the company run by CEO Elon Musk of stealing certain aspects of its semi truck design.

Nikola filed the lawsuit Tuesday in Arizona federal court. The lawsuit claims that Tesla’s electric semi, which was unveiled in November 2017, infringes on several of its patents, including Nikola’s mid-entry door, fuselage, and wrap windshield that is designed to give the driver an unobstructed view of the road.

Tesla has been accused of allegedly stealing the design for its electric Semi truck from Hydrogen truck startup Nikola Motor.

Nikola Motors have filed a $2 Billion lawsuit in Arizona court.

 

Nikola

 

 

 

Tesla

 

 

Source: http://fortune.com/2018/05/02/tesla-lawsuit-nikola-truck-patent-infringement/

[elfensky]

Gotta say, I can indeed see the similarities.

[Arika]

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Nikola

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Tesla

This has to be a joke right?

 

Also they look absolutely nothing alike

[Spotty]

An automotive company called Nikola that specialises in electric vehicles is suing an automotive company that specialises in electric vehicles called Tesla for copying their ideas.
Anyone elses head hurt?

[Sauron]

...Nikola motor? Please tell me this is a joke...

[samcool55]

Tbh most trucks look the same tho, i mean design doesn't really matter.

If you want a modern truck with an aerodynamic design you basically end up with a certain shape everyone else will end up with too.

[Ezzy-525]

 

9 minutes ago, Spotty said:

An automotive company called Nikola that specialises in electric vehicles is suing an automotive company that specialises in electric vehicles called Tesla for copying their ideas.
Anyone elses head hurt?

In other news, Con Edison says they are suing both Nikola & Tesla...just for the lolz.

 

Seriously, naming your electic vehicle startup "Nikola" in a world where there is already a successful company doing the same thing called "Tesla", is just riding on their coattails in my opinion. Tesla could also file a frivilous lawsuit citing that using the name Nikola in the same industry is causing confusion due to both names being derived from Nikola Tesla. It would be stupid but Tesla could crush Nikola by tying them up with litigation for years.

[Tieox]

All fixed by bringing back two stroke diesel trucks  

[AlTech]

The two don't look that much alike and the Tesla is the better looking of the two.

[WereCatf]

16 minutes ago, samcool55 said:

Tbh most trucks look the same tho, i mean design doesn't really matter.

If you want a modern truck with an aerodynamic design you basically end up with a certain shape everyone else will end up with too.

Exactly. It's the same thing with mobile-phones and many other things in life: function and characteristics determine the shape. Besides, I very much doubt Nikola's trucks are the first ones to sport such a look -- Tesla can just find some older designs somewhere, toss them at Nikola in court as prior evidence and walk away.

[WereCatf]

3 minutes ago, AluminiumTech said:

The two don't look that much alike and the Tesla is the better looking of the two.

I think Nikola's design looks better just from pure aesthetics point-of-view, but I think Tesla's design is more functional, what with less flashy design that could distract other drivers on the road and with much larger view for the driver. If I had to choose between the two, I'd pick Tesla's design.

[Dabombinable]

And what about the other manufacturers of standard cars that are copying from others? Haven't seen them sue.

[avg123]

2 minutes ago, Dabombinable said:

And what about the other manufacturers of standard cars that are copying from others? Haven't seen them sue.

They do sue.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-jaguar-land-rover-china-lawsuit-idUSKCN0YP1JJ

[Dabombinable]

1 minute ago, avg123 said:

They do sue.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-jaguar-land-rover-china-lawsuit-idUSKCN0YP1JJ

That I can understand as it goes out of its way to fool people. Unlike the Nikola vs Tesla lawsuit.

[Ezzy-525]

6 minutes ago, avg123 said:

They do sue.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-jaguar-land-rover-china-lawsuit-idUSKCN0YP1JJ

Chinese knockoff's and similar designs from competitors are very different things. In fact the Chinese market has copycat versions of nearly everything we have in the West.

 

The Lifan 320 (Original Car - Mini)

 

LandWind X7 (Original Car - Range Rover Evoque)

 

Shuanghuan SCEO (Original Car - BMW X5)

 

Youxhia Ranger X (Original Car - Tesla Model S)

 

The list goes on. These are the cars that should be sued for 

[LAwLz]

Well, since the US court sided with Apple that the Galaxy S2 was too similar to the iPhone, I don't see why this lawsuit would fail.

[Taf the Ghost]

Nikola would lose a case to Audi, if they're going for the design cues claims.

[asus killer]

this is not a question of aesthetics, Nikola made innovations and patented them for functional reasons. I'm sure the patents have to state the reasons. All of the 3 mentioned (mid-entry door, fuselage, and wrap windshield) were clearly copied by Tesla, at least it looks so.

If they accepted those patents they Nikola can sue. That's why people have patents.

 

If it were just for the aesthetics i think it would be copyright infringement, not patents.

[TetraSky]

Never even heard of Nikola Motor before...
Lets be honest here, like @samcool55 said, if you want an aerodynamic vehicle, you're going to end up with a particular shape that looks a lot like everyone else's. Because that's just how it is. You won't exactly be going out of your way to make your vehicle perform worse, just because it might look a bit too similar to some other vehicle made by someone else.
While I can see the resemblance, it mostly stem for the color and maybe the angle of the frontal window, the rest is obviously not the same truck, from much bigger windows on the Tesla to the smaller lights and non-existent radiator... you'd be hard pressed to mistake the two. Honestly I think it's mostly because of the color being too similar that they would ever possible make this mistake.

[Sakkura]

Nikola unveiled their Nikola One truck in December 2016. Tesla first talked about its truck in July 2016.

 

That doesn't prove Nikola's patents are invalid due to prior art, but it's at least enough to be pretty sceptical of their claims.

[TechyBen]

2 hours ago, ElfenSky said:

Gotta say, I can indeed see the similarities.

Yep. Both have 4 wheels... no... 6? No. BOTH HAVE WHEELS! Best nuke it from orbit just to be safe, and award myself twelfty billion dollars for how good I am at LAWz and protecting the rights of good old fat walleted corrupt businesses.

 

this is not a question of aesthetics, Nikola made innovations and patented them for functional reasons. I'm sure the patents have to state the reasons. All of the 3 mentioned (mid-entry door, fuselage, and wrap windshield) were clearly copied by Tesla, at least it looks so.

If they accepted those patents they Nikola can sue. That's why people have patents.

 

If it were just for the aesthetics i think it would be copyright infringement, not patents.

We can patent doors being in the middle of something? And I thought I was the one being stupid in this thread. :(

[mynameisjuan]

Fuck patents already

[SpaceGhostC2C]

ITT people want to solve a patent litigation by looking at two pictures 

[asus killer]

17 minutes ago, TechyBen said:

We can patent doors being in the middle of something? And I thought I was the one being stupid in this thread.

 

i find 1st reading what you're commenting something very useful, you should try it, it helps with the "being stupid" part 

2 hours ago, avg123 said:

infringes on several of its patents, including Nikola’s mid-entry door

 

[Brooksie359]

1 hour ago, asus killer said:

this is not a question of aesthetics, Nikola made innovations and patented them for functional reasons. I'm sure the patents have to state the reasons. All of the 3 mentioned (mid-entry door, fuselage, and wrap windshield) were clearly copied by Tesla, at least it looks so.

If they accepted those patents they Nikola can sue. That's why people have patents.

 

If it were just for the aesthetics i think it would be copyright infringement, not patents.

The fact that you can patent the idea of a wrap windshield is kinda dumb. Patenting a way to implement it is one thing but this is as dumb as apple patenting the rectangular shape of the iPhone.