Tesla Wins One Over Chinese Trademark Troll

cartechboy writes "The Tesla Model S went on sale in China this week, at a price of $121,000--which is the same $79,900 price as in the U.S. plus a whole bunch of other costs tacked on, mostly the customs duty China uses to protect its own auto industry and a stiff value-added tax. But that's not the big news. Lost in the announcement was the news that Tesla got its brand name back from a Chinese trademark troll who'd registered it in 2006, even before the very first electric Roadster was sold in the States. So now the company's stores can carry the name "Te Si La," which is the Chinese transliteration most familiar to consumers in that country. Score one more for Tesla Motors."

Troll- you mean 'pay for play' justice

[Anonymous Coward]

In China, money talks, and the peasants have ZERO power or say over their own lives. China isn't South America, where national pride will occasionally give victory to local individuals over US giants.

So, the Chinese authorities will happily CRUSH the legal rights of any lesser Chinese individual, if that person stands between a large pay-off to Chinese elites, and the US company that is willing to write those cheques. And sadly, by and large, the Chinese sheeple go along with these abuses, in the name of growing economic prosperity.

May I suggest you Google the deeply sickening abuses that Chinese couples suffered when they wished to marry, because the state claimed complete rights over their bodies, and therefore insisted on the most humiliating and invasive physical and psychological 'inspections' of individuals before they were granted the right to marry. These evil compulsory inspections (actually state mandated 'rape', which is the correct description of all forced intimate examinations) have been suspended for the time being, but many powerful members of the Chinese elite are insisting they are re-instated.

Re:So how is this a win

[Anonymous Coward]

Trademarks exist to ensure that consumers know the source of the goods they buy. If you aren't selling the public something using the name, then you can't tie up the name merely by registering a trademark and sitting around (as this guy seems to have done.) There was no need for Tesla to bargain, because there was no segment of the vehicle buying public that would be confused by Tesla selling the vehicles under their own name.

Re:So how is this a win

[Ecuador]

Eh, are you serious? You can't just trademark the names of products that are not yours in countries where they have not yet applied just to blackmail the company. If you have a legitimate product and you are the first to register that name for it, it is all good and they will have to pay you to get it back. But this guy just registered the name and made a fake "Tesla Motors China" website, complete with the Tesla logo and a car he had no relation to, then asked for millions.

Re:More for show than environment

[WindBourne]

no, because coal without pollution control, accounts for 80% of China's electricity. In fact, it has been at 80% for 20 years. More importantly, Chinese plans call for Coal plants, OR coal=>methane (dumping CO2 into the air) => burned in a plant, to remain at 80% over the next 20 years. Worst of all, they expect to DOUBLE what they currently do. For 2013, they are at 33% of the world's emissions. By 2017, they were expected to be close to 1/2. Now, with Germany and Japan killing their nukes, and re-starting coal, that might not be the case.