Earlier this week, Audi finally won its lawsuit against NIO. The company had sued the Chinese brand over infringing upon some of its trademarks and has now won the legal battle that will have NIO change the names of some of its car models in Europe.
For those unaware, the automobile giant had sued the EV maker over two of its car models, namely the ES8 and ES6. Audi had alleged that these names were in risk of confusion with Audi’s existing S6 and S8 models. Now, the Munich Regional Court in Germany has ruled in favor of the German company in its trademark battle against the Chinese EV maker. As per the court’s Judge, the addition of the letter ‘E’ does not make NIO’s cars distinctive enough since it only stands for ‘Electric.’
Meaning, the ‘E’ have customers assume vehicle engine type, so people might confuse the ES8 from NIO be an electric only version of the Audi S8 model. As of right now, the court’s decision is not final. Interestingly, NIO’s spokesperson had previously stated that if the court’s ruling was not in favor of the Chinese EV Maker, it will likely lead to an appeal. The company has denied all claims of it trademark infringement and claims that the confusion is still unlikely as the two NIO cars are SUV models while the S6 and S8 are sedan class cars.
The two firms have been embroiled in the lawsuit since October 2021 over the ES6 and ES8 EVs. At the moment, NIO only sells its S6 and S8 model in Norway outside of its home market of China. Notably, a refreshed 2023 version of the ES8 was recently announced in the Chinese market and is set to launch in Europe in the middle of the year.
RELATED:
- Audi Taps into the Power of AI for Revolutionary Auto Design
- NIO EC7 SUV With an Automatic Battery Swap Launched Alongside the Electric ES8 SUV
- EV maker Nio incorporates mobile phone arm, could deliver first phone in 2023
(Via)
