The Delhi High Court has directed that an earlier undertaking given by the CEO of Tesla Power India that the company will not manufacture or market electric vehicles (EVs) or use the word “Tesla” or any deceptively similar branding, shall continue until the final disposal of the Elon Musk-owned company's trademark infringement suit. [Tesla Inc v. Tesla Power India]
Justice Tejas Karia passed the order.
A detailed copy of the order is awaited.
In May 2024, the Tesla Inc moved the Delhi High Court, aggrieved by the use of the TESLA trademark by Tesla Power India and their announcement that it is going to enter the EV market. The Court was told that Tesla Power India carried advertisements in newspapers announcing the move.
Musk’s Tesla argued that a cease-and-desist notice was issued to Tesla Power India and its counterpart Tesla Power USA in April 2022, but the defendant company continued to advertise and market their goods using the Tesla trademark.
On the first day of hearing, Tesla Power India’s proprietor appeared before the Court and gave an undertaking that they have no intention to manufacture EVs at all and that they will not market other entities’ electric vehicles under the trademark or tradename ‘TESLA POWER USA’ or any other brand deceptively similar to the word ‘TESLA’.
However, during the subsequent hearings, Musk's Tesla alleged that the Indian entity had started manufacturing e-scooters under the Tesla brand name.
On May 28 last year, the Court said,
"In this situation, it would be appropriate if the defendants’ file an affidavit disclosing the EVs that are sold by them, as well as, the names of the dealers through which these are sold, the dates of launch, sales since launch, and the current stocks that are available with them. Affidavit will be placed on record or before the next date of hearing."
Subsequently, the case was referred for mediation. However, the mediation failed, leading the Court to hear the case on merits.
Senior Advocate Chander M Lall along with Advocates Nancy Roy, Raghav Malik, Prakriti Varshney, Lalit Alley and Prashant appeared for Tesla Inc.
Tesla Power Indian was represented by Senior Advocate Sai Deepak with Advocate Siddhant Goel and Mohit Goel from Sim & San.