Indian Company in Trouble for Using Tesla Logo on Scooters, Removes Logo from E-Scooters

Tesla Power Pvt. Ltd, a company based in Gurgaon, has told its partners and vendors to remove the Tesla logo from their electric scooters. This follows a Delhi high court order stopping the sale and advertisement of products using the Tesla trademark.

During a hearing about the trademark dispute with American electric vehicle giant Tesla Inc, Tesla Power said it never intended to sell its electric scooters under the Tesla name.

Tesla Power revealed that about 699 e-scooters with the Tesla logo had been sold by its partners and dealers. Most of these sales were through its partner company, e-Ashwa.

The court said Tesla Power must do more to follow its promise and stop using the Tesla name in any EV business.

The court will hear the case again on July 3, after the vacations.

Trademark Infringement

Tesla Inc had accused Tesla Power of selling e-scooters with the Tesla logo, despite a court order from May 2 stating they would not sell any EV products. Tesla Inc. claimed Tesla Power broke the court’s order.

On May 28, Justice Anish Dayal asked for an affidavit listing the number of electric scooters sold, the current stock, and the names of dealers.

The court had issued a notice in response to Tesla Inc’s complaint and ordered Tesla Power to stop advertising EV products with a logo similar to Tesla’s. Tesla Power was also asked to respond to the allegations.

Tesla Inc argued that Tesla Power’s use of the trademark in India was confusing customers and harming its business. They said consumers were mistakenly buying Tesla Power batteries, thinking they were from the US company, and then sending complaints to Tesla Inc.

Legal experts told Mint that this case could set important precedents in intellectual property law for the growing EV industry. A verdict in favor of Tesla Inc could lead to stricter enforcement of IP rights, affecting licensing deals and business practices in the industry.

Earlier, the high court had criticized Tesla Inc for not acting urgently, noting that they had been in talks with Tesla Power about the trademark dispute since 2020. The court said Tesla Power had been operating for four years and should be allowed to present its case.

Tesla Power argued that it wasn’t making EV batteries but selling lead-acid batteries used in regular vehicles and inverters. At the previous hearing, its chairman Kavinder Khurana personally told the court that the company had no plans to enter the EV market.

He explained that the advertisement featuring the Tesla trademark was related to e-Ashwa, a company with which Tesla Power has a strategic partnership to sell branded products. Khurana noted that Tesla Power has been in business since 2020 and has a million customers in India.