A Bury takeaway boss who wanted to call his new shop 'Tesla Chicken & Pizza' has been hit with a £12,000 bill after losing a trademark battle with Elon Musk's car giant.
Amanj Ali, 41, registered the name in homage to inventor Nikola Tesla in May 2020, without objections. But when lawyers working for Tesla learned he'd registered the trademark in Britain, they launched a bid to protect its trademark for food and drinks services in the UK.
After losing the bitter ‘David and Goliath’ naming battle, Amanj was left with a fine and legal costs topping £12,000.
And Amanj, who currently owns just a single chicken shop in Bury, Gtr Manchester, said he would now not invite Elon Musk to eat at his premises.
Amanj Ali, 41, registered the name in homage to inventor Nikola Tesla in May 2020, without objections. But when lawyers working for Tesla learned he'd registered the trademark in Britain, they launched a bid to protect its trademark for food and drinks services in the UK.
After losing the bitter ‘David and Goliath’ naming battle, Amanj was left with a fine and legal costs topping £12,000.
And Amanj, who currently owns just a single chicken shop in Bury, Gtr Manchester, said he would now not invite Elon Musk to eat at his premises.
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NewsTranscript
00:00 [no audio]
00:17 My name is Ahmad Ali, owner of Colorado's Chicken in Berry,
00:22 and although I own a brand which is called Tesla Chicken and Pizza,
00:27 okay, it's registered since 2020, August 2020 up to November 2024,
00:36 it's been canceled after the battle with a Tesla motor.
00:43 [no audio]
01:01 Unfortunately, one of the decisions is taken by hearing,
01:07 which is based on one of Elon Musk's tweets back in 2018,
01:14 which is I'm not aware of that at all.
01:17 And on the tweet, Elon Musk is mentioning that he opened a restaurant
01:22 in one of the Los Angeles Tesla power stations, something like that,
01:28 just because of that, I lost my trademark.
01:32 What is my view on that? This guy had a lot of tweets. One of his tweets,
01:38 he said, I'm gonna go buy a Man United. Did he buy Man United? No.
01:44 [no audio]
01:51 I am not happy with the decision.
01:54 [ Silence ]