Delhi HC Issues Summons In Trademark Infringement Suit Filed By Elon Musk’s Tesla Inc. Against Gurugram Based ‘Tesla Power India’
The Delhi High Court has issued the summons in a suit for trademark infringement filed by Elon Musk’s Tesla Inc. against an Indian battery company Tesla Power and its counterparts.
The Bench of Justice Ambuj Nath ordered, “Let the plaint be registered as a suit…Upon filing of process fee, issue summons to the defendants by all permissible modes. Summons shall state that the written statements be filed by the defendants within 30 days from the date of receipt of the summons. Along with the written statements, the defendants shall also file affidavit of admission/denial of plaintiff’s documents, without which the written statements shall not be taken on record.”
Senior Advocate Chander M. Lall appeared for the Plaintiff and Advocate Anita Sahani appeared for the Defendants.
Tesla Inc., Plaintiff herein, is a multinational company which has been operating and recognised by the name ‘TESLA’, registered under the laws of Delaware, United States of America, and has filed a trademark suit along with an application for permanent injunction and damages under Order XXXIX Rule 1 and 2 of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908.
Tesla Inc. alleged that around April 2022, it came across Tesla Power-Defendants and its counterparts using the impugned marks which encompassed the Plaintiff’s trademark ‘TESLA’ in its entirety, in addition to the descriptive phrase ‘POWER USA’.
One of the Defendants, was present in the Court and he stated that he is the CEO of Defendant Company which is an Indian company (Tesla Power India Private Limited); a director in Defendant no. 2 which is a company incorporated in the U.S.A. (Tesla Power USA, LLC), and a director in Defendant no. 5 company (Energy and Fire Tech India Pvt. Ltd.). He further stated that the entity of Defendant No. 4 (Tesla Power USA Inc.) does not exist anymore since their original business started in 2020 under Defendant No. 4, but was later shifted to the Indian entity floated by him.
The Court said, “It is further stated that business is predominantly into ‘Lead Acid Batteries’ which are supplied for automobiles, inverters, UPS and they do not manufacture any electric vehicles (EVs) of any nature whatsoever. It is stated that advertisements that were issued were in respect of a marketing alliance that they had with another manufacturer of EVs being ‘E-Ashwa’.”
The Court directed the counsels for the Defendants to file a response, if any, within three weeks in the application for permanent injunction.
Cause Title: Tesla Inc. v. Tesla Power India Pvt. Ltd. and Ors.
Appearances:
Plaintiff: Senior Advocate Chander M. Lall, Advocates Nancy Roy, Raghav Malik, Prakriti Varshney, Lalit Alley and Prashant.
Defendants: Advocates Anita Sahani and Mukesh Vatsa.