Nikola Motor Company has filed a lawsuit in Arizona alleging Tesla's semi-viola semi-electricity in the hydrogen truck startup patents. The lawsuit states that Tesla voluntarily copied these patents to create its electric truck, and Nikola is seeking $ 2 billion in damages in return.
"It is obviously obvious that there is no merit in this claim," said a spokesman for Tesla . Verge A representative of Nikola Motors said in a statement to The Verge that "[w] I am not commenting because he is in court." The lawsuit speaks for itself. "
Nikola was founded in 2014, and the company showed its first two products, a four-wheel electric all-terrain vehicle and a hydrogen and electric semi-truck, in May 2016. Since then, a second semi truck has been added to its eventual alignment, provoked some fully electric jet skis, and announced plans for a $ 1 billion factory in Arizona.
The lawsuit filed by Nikola establishes a series of claims that, seen together, the company says Tesla proved cornered by the startup's patents. Nikola points out supposed similarities in the front fenders of the trucks, the wraparound windshields, the middle entrance doors, the aerodynamic fuselage (with similar drag coefficients) and more as evidence that Tesla copied his design. He also claims that a Tesla recruiter, Aaron Hoyos, tried to catch Nikola's chief engineer a few months after the startup unveiled his hydrogen semi truck, and that this is evidence that Tesla knew of Nikola's unique design features.
In addition, Nikola says he was able to identify that Tesla's van could be infringing its designs of spy shots that covered the Internet in the weeks leading up to Tesla's disclosure in mid-November 2017. The startup says it sent a cease and desist letter (which is included as proof in the lawsuit) to Tesla on November 7 asking the company to delay his announcement until the problem is resolved, but Tesla never responded.
Nikola says that Tesla's truck is causing "confusion in the market" and states that "Tesla's infringement has impaired Nikola's ability to attract investors and partners because investors can now partner with Tesla to have a truck alternative fuel ". the damage of this alleged infraction, according to Nikola's calculations, is "over $ 2 billion."
Nikola has discussed with Tesla before, including how he chose to use the name of the same famous investor when he founded the company. Recently, Nikola affirmed in April that, although it has more than $ 8 billion in advance orders for the different versions of its semi-trailers, all those reserves will be " reimbursed 100% " and that the start-up "will not use". your money to operate our business "- claims that seem to be stubbornly obvious at Tesla, which owns nearly $ 1 billion in customer deposits for Model 3 and several other advertised products, according to recent documents.