Chicken shop owner loses £12,000 in trademark dispute with Tesla

A chicken shop owner in Greater Manchester has lost a trade mark dispute against Tesla and been left £12,000 out of pocket. Amanj Ali, who owns Colorado's Chicken in Bury, registered the trade mark "Tesla Chicken & Pizza" for his takeaway business. However, Tesla sought to protect its trade mark for food and drinks services in the UK and argued that Ali's trade mark would take advantage of its reputation. Ali opposed Tesla's bid, but in November 2021, the Intellectual Property Office (IPO) informed him that Tesla had requested protection for its international trade marks in the UK. In September 2022, Tesla applied to invalidate Ali's trade mark, and the IPO ruled in Tesla's favor, ordering Ali to pay £4,000 to the company. Tesla had also tried to argue "goodwill" based on a tweet by Elon Musk about opening a restaurant under the Tesla sign, but the IPO dismissed this claim. Ali said he would have appealed the decision if he had the money, but the lengthy dispute has caused him stress. Tesla reportedly claimed that Ali had offered to sell his trade mark for £750,000, but Ali denies this and says it was a mistake made by his previous solicitor.