Delhi HC grants interim relief to Musk-owned Tesla in infringement case

Musk's Tesla had moved the Delhi High Court in May 2024 to restrain Gurugram-based Tesla Power India from using the Tesla trademark for their electric vehicles

The Delhi High Court on Monday directed Tesla Power India to not manufacture or market electric vehicles (EVs) or use the word “Tesla” until the final disposal of the Elon Musk-owned Tesla Inc's trademark infringement suit against it. A detailed copy of the order is awaited.

 

Musk's Tesla had moved the Delhi High Court in May 2024 to restrain Gurugram-based Tesla Power India from using the Tesla trademark for their EVs. It had then told the court that Tesla Power India had even carried advertisements in newspapers announcing the move to enter the EV market.

 

In its petition, the US-based company urged the court to issue a cease-and-desist notice against the Indian Tesla as well as its counterpart Tesla Power USA in April 2022. Tesla Power India continued to advertise and market its goods using the Tesla trademark even in the US, Musk's Tesla had argued.

 

Tesla Power India’s proprietor had 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’ EVs under the trademark “TESLA POWER USA” or any other brand deceptively similar to the word “TESLA”. However, during the later hearings, Musk's Tesla alleged that the Indian entity had started manufacturing e-scooters under the Tesla brand name.

 

The court then, in May last year, told Tesla India to file an affidavit, disclosing the EVs that are sold by them. A single-judge bench of Justice Tejas Karia had then also asked the Gurugram-based company to put on record 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.