The electric carmaker Tesla has ended its trademark dispute with a Chinese businessman over use of its logo. Tesla had sued Zhan Baosheng over use of the logo.
Baosheng also sued Tesla and demanded the company stop selling cars in China. Tesla sought damages from Baosheng, who applied to register the trademark in 2006 and was approved in 2009 in China.
The Beijing No.3 Intermediate People's Court made a statement on the matter announcing on Weibo (a Chinese social network) that a settlement was reached, according to a report. That announcement came Tuesday.
Tesla has its sights set on the large nation and believes China could be its largest market, globally, for its line of electric cars. The Chinese auto market is the largest in the world. Baosheng intended to use the Tesla trademark to market his line of skin care products in China, according to a recent report on the matter.
In January, Tesla thought the matter was put to rest, but Baosheng brought it back up again, as this recent Tech Times article points out. Baosheng was asking the second time around for about $3.85 million and for the company to cease sales of its cars and operation of supercharging stations in China.
Tesla's orginal suit called for 4.2 million yuan or $672,420 from the Chinese businessman. In June 2014, however, Baosheng sued Tesla for an infringement on the trademark and asked for compensation of 23.94 million yuan.
Baosheng's business is based in Guangdong and his trademark registration covered two languages in China, according to another report. Under the new agreement between the two parties, Baosheng agreed to stop using the Tesla trademark. Tesla agreed that it would no longer seek compensation for any losses caused by the skin care peddler's alleged trademark infringement.
Baosheng had registered the "Tesla" trademark before the California-based automaker's arrival in China, according to reports. He had intended to use the Tesla name for vehicles utilized by his skin-care company, Cengceng Inc.
Tesla is an American electric carmaker based in Palo Alto, Calif. Its CEO is Elon Musk. Musk and his company may benefit from China's decision to subsidize electric cars to help boost their production and use on Chinese roadways. China is one of the most polluted places on earth and the government is seeking ways to curb environmental impact. Japan is taking similar steps.
For example, last month, China waived a purchase tax on electric cars and announced that 30 percent of government automobile purchases will be electric cars by the year 2016.
Tesla and Baosheng also agreed to commercial transferrance of domain names including teslamotors.cn and tesla.cn. Baosheng's trademark will be cancelled by authorities in China under the new agreement as well.
