Apple ran into problems when it wanted to introduce the iPad in China. A Chinese company had previously registered the trademark rights to iPad in mainland China. The legal battle was settled in 2012. The trademark rights were transferred to Apple for $ 60 million.
Tesla, the American manufacturer of luxury electric cars, got the same problem this summer when their showroom was going to open in Beijing. TESLA was in fact already registered by a Chinese company in 2006. When the U.S. manufacturer wanted to register the trademark in 2009 this was refused by the authorities because of the earlier mark. To obtain the trademark rights the U.S. manufacturer offered $ 250,000. The proprietor, however, wanted 30 million. Because the parties could not agree legal procedures are now running (including a cancellation action).
Alternatively TESLA still argues that the Chinese proprietor has registered in bad faith. However, that is always very difficult to prove in China. Within the world of electric cars TESLA is a concept, but to show bad faith, the mark must be known to the average Chinese car driver and that is very doubtful.
