Tesla said it has resolved its trademark dispute in China which threatened company plans to expand rapidly in the country.
However, this is the second time Tesla has announced an end to the dispute with Chinese businessman Zhan Baosheng who had already registered the ‘Tesla’ trademark. The electric carmaker said in January that the issue had been resolved but, last month, Zhan moved to take the matter to court.
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Tesla said in a statement that the issue had now been resolved “completely and amicably”. An end to the long-standing trademark dispute would remove an obstacle to Tesla’s growth plan in China, which billionaire co-founder Elon Musk expects to become the company’s biggest global market next year, helped by government incentives being introduced, including purchase subsidies and tax cuts, to accelerate sales of EVs.
Tesla’s statement said: “Mr. Zhan has agreed to have the Chinese authorities complete the process of cancelling the Tesla trademarks that he had registered or applied for, at no cost to Tesla.”
Separately, Tesla and Zhan have also reached commercial terms for the transfer to Tesla of certain domain names, including tesla.cn and teslamotors.cn, the company said, but it did not give financial details.
The carmaker is the latest foreign company to become embroiled in a trademark dispute in China. Others include Apple and Unilever. Zhan registered the trademarks to the Tesla name in both English and Chinese in 2006.
Tesla’s statement added that the company has “successfully concluded an agreement with Mr. Zhan Baosheng to completely and amicably resolve the dispute between the parties. These actions remove any doubt with respect to Tesla’s undisputed rights to its trademarks in China.”
