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If I was a shareholder in Nikola Id be worried. A new company should be focused on making great products and innovating. Getting into the patent suing game for what seemed to me to be trivial design elements seems like someone is distracted. Maybe they did it for a little attention and feel the cost is worth it...
Musk's comments from yesterday's earnings call: "We have a slight laughable lawsuit recently from some company ironically called Nikola. Nikola is suing Tesla. That's hilarious. Fate loves irony. But they're suing us because the way the trucks look, which is absurd. Nobody's buying a Semi truck because the way it looks, or because going to wraparound windshield or whatever. Please." https://seekingalpha.com/article/4…
Whether that's true or not, it has absolutely no bearing on the validity of the lawsuit.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
You can actually. It's called a design patent. It's different than a utility patent because it's supposed to be non-functional. I haven't looked at the patents to see if they're design or utility patents though.
You could have read the article, though… The third paragraph is: > In the complaint, Nikola alleges that Tesla’s electric truck design infringes on a series of 3 specific design patents that they recently obtained for the design of a few features of their Nikola One truck unveiled in 2016 – a year before Tesla unveiled its own electric truck.
How is this a patent troll? Nikola isn’t a non-practicing entity. They have their own competing product. Was the Apple-Samsung patent litigation “patent trolling?”
But if the major deciding issue in a patent case is whether or not a feature of a patented product infringes on another feautre of a patented product - then this could very well be serious.
If I was a shareholder in Nikola Id be worried. A new company should be focused on making great products and innovating. Getting into the patent suing game for what seemed to me to be trivial design elements seems like someone is distracted. Maybe they did it for a little attention and feel the cost is worth it...
How is this a patent troll? Nikola isn’t a non-practicing entity. They have their own competing product. Was the Apple-Samsung patent litigation “patent trolling?”
It doesn't matter if they are a practicing entity or not: they are still clearly using their patents in a trolling fashion. After all: (1) who had ever heard of 'Nikola' before this, (2) these patents are too dumb for words, (3) good luck showing $2B in damages and (if any) and (4) if you really believe that Nikola is now associated with Tesla because of battery fires then you're silly. These people are patent trolls…
Yes it does, the key characteristic of patent "trolling" is that the patent owner is not practicing.
I had heard of Nikola before this, because they have been featured on this site, and in other news outlets catering to EV-enthusiasts.
Many patents seem to me to be dumb, or for completely non-novel, obvious things ("one click ordering", etc), but the patent office granted them, so they are valid.
Agree they probably can't show $2B in damages, and on the fire confusion. But in any lawsuit you start off asking for way more than you'll settle for.
How is this a patent troll? Nikola isn’t a non-practicing entity. They have their own competing product. Was the Apple-Samsung patent litigation “patent trolling?”
I mean just look at the sum they're asking for. $2 billion? Based on what is that value determined? Tesla hasn't even officially launched its trucks yet, nor has Nikola. Due to the ridiculousness of the lawsuit alone I consider this "trolling". Also there is plenty of prior art. That's also one of the main reasons why car companies don't sue each other - it would be very stupid on their part to do so.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm with you I don't understand why people are so quick to call a company a "patent troll" diluting the meaning.
That's what I thought, but towards the end of the article, the author explains himself. With supporting research which I appreciated: > But now I cannot get behind them at all after such a clear case of patent trolling. > [...] > A wrap windshield on a truck? That has been around for years before Nikola Motors or Tesla Semi: > [picture of MAN truck with similar design] > Those types of concepts, like a mid-entry door…