Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) has fixed the trademark issue in China due to which the company’s expansion plan in the region was getting affected. The company had reached an agreement with Zhan Baosheng, who owns the rights for the name ‘Tesla’ in China even before the car maker entered the country.
Tesla settles the issue finally
Both the parties have decided to resolve the issue “completely and amicably” as per the emailed statement of the car maker to Bloomberg. The statement added that these actions will quell all the doubts related to Tesla Motors undisputed rights to the trademarks in China.
Also, Zhan has agreed to transfer registered website names including tesla.cn and teslamotors.cn to the car maker. Zhan he intended to use Tesla name in China for vehicles his Cengceng Inc. Business, a skin-care company. Tesla did not comment on the financial terms related to the domain name transfer.
“Mr. Zhan has agreed to have the Chinese authorities complete the process of canceling the Tesla trademarks that he had registered or applied for, at no cost to Tesla,” the company said.
In January, Tesla informed that the issue has been settled, but in July, Zhan sued the automaker. In 2006, Zhan registered the trademark for the Tesla name in both English and Chinese, in China’s southern province of Guangdong.
China a tougher market
This year the EV manufacturer started direct delivery of Model S in China and hopes to reach the levels of the United States by the next year. Tesla has shown gratitude to the Chinese authorities in solving the trademark dispute. The company stated that it expects continued growth in the region, and feels expanding the impact of electric cars is very important for a market like China.
It’s not just Tesla that was caught in the trademark brawl in China. Companies like Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Burberry Group Plc has to undergo similar headaches in The World’s second largest economy.
So far this year, Tesla shares have surged 59%. The settlement was reported by the Beijing’s Third Intermediate court on its official blog.
