A chicken shop owner from Greater Manchester has lost £12,000 after unsuccessfully challenging Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) in a trademark dispute.
Amanj Ali, who is the boss of Colorado’s Chicken, registered the trademark 'Tesla Chicken & Pizza' in May 2020 for a new takeaway he planned to open.
Typically, companies have two months to dispute a trade mark, but Tesla did not object during this period.
However, in November of the following year, the electric vehicle (EV) manufacturer launched a bid to protect its international trademark for food and drink services in the UK.
Ali received an email from the Intellectual Property Office (IPO) telling him someone had attempted to register the 'Tesla' trademark.
Ali outside his chicken shop Source: BBC
The US EV giant attempted to secure protection for its international trademarks in the UK for the food and drink category, covering venues like takeaways.
Ali protested this, saying that Tesla would try to invalidate his trademark.
Less than a year later and Tesla did exactly that, applying to invalidate Ali’s trademark by arguing the chicken shop boss would use its 2013-registered 'Tesla' trade mark to boost his own business.
Despite Ali's efforts - he had already spent £8,000 in legal fees - the IPO sided with Tesla and ordered him to pay £4,000 to the car manufacturer.
Ali said he would have appealed the decision if he had the money to spend, but also noted how the process caused him severe stress.
"To be honest, I couldn't sleep well... sometimes I couldn't work," he said.