Shanghai, China — The focus at Tesla was on soda and beer this week rather than electric vehicles as the EV giant won a trademark infringement lawsuit against Sino Drinks, which was selling ‘Tesila’ branded beers and sodas bearing a logo suspiciously similar to Tesla.
The case against Sino Drinks was filed over a year ago. Tesla accused the company of unlawfully using its trademarks and requested approx. $928,000 in compensation. The Shanghai High Court ruled in favour of Tesla, and Sino must halt its use of Tesla’s exclusive trademark.
This isn’t the first time Tesla has had beverage-related drama, either. The automaker actually has its own beer product, but it’s only available in Germany. The company first announced the beer at its Berlin Gigafactory in Oct. 2021, but another company beat them to the trademark and registered the names “Giga Beer” and “Giga Bier” a mere 24 hours before Tesla did.
Thankfully, the two companies were able to reach an agreement and Giga Bier launched in March 2023.
