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Nikola sued Tesla (TSLA), claiming that the Tesla semi-trailer model had violated their recently approved "Design" patents. In the lawsuit, Nikola claims up to $ 2 billion in damages. If Nikola were able to win the lawsuit, it would be damaging for Tesla.
In this article, I point out that there are two independent paths for Tesla to invalidate the Nikola combination. I also think we will soon learn that Nikola dropped the lawsuit following the award of 2 design patents to Tesla 4 weeks ago.
Tesla's stock price should rise in the news, if and when Nikola drops his lawsuit. The long-term price targets of analysts should also increase.
Tesla's recent tour across the United States, including the Penske stop below, may have been given the go-ahead after Tesla learned that its design patents had been granted by the US Patent Office.
(Source: GuntherSnaps on youtube here)
Nikola sued Tesla for the design of Tesla semi-trailers
On May 1, 2018, Nikola Corporation filed a lawsuit against Tesla Inc. in the hope of obtaining up to $ 2 billion in damages for patent infringement.
Nikola filed design patents on December 30, 2015 and obtained design patents from the US Patent Office between February and April 2018.
The end of the year 2015, when Nikola filed for patents, is a moment before Tesla announces one of its models of semi – trailers. This gave priority to the Nikola patent. On May 9, 2016, Nikola posted her creations on her website.
Nikola alleges in his lawsuit that Elon Musk saw the drawings and, in short, undertook to develop a Tesla semi-trailer using Nikola designs.
Tesla has developed a new semitrailer design and it was revealed last November. As a result, many customers have booked their semi-trailer.
Nikola apparently sensed that Tesla had stolen business by building a truck that looked like theirs. Tesla received a large number of orders with deposits of $ 20,000 per truck. Nikola had only asked for $ 1,500 per truck depot, so that with 7,000 trucks ordered, Nikola had only raised $ 10.5 million.
The companies have mainly reserved trucks in case Nikola proves to be the best solution. At $ 1,500 per booking, it was not too expensive to keep the door open in case Nikola would be a viable truck supplier.
It is unlikely that fuel cells will survive the electric battery. I suspect Nikola has a number of customers called to cancel their order and request a refund after placing an order with Tesla.
To avoid the negative image of cancellations and refunds, I suspect Nikola has decided to refund all orders instead. In this way, Nikola could leave everyone on the list to save face. Nikola can still claim to have 7,000 orders in the books. But, those orders were slim unless Nikola could kill the Tesla threat.
After Nikola received his design patents (April 2018), Nikola felt that he had sufficient reason to sue Tesla to block the semi, which was the case.
Tesla receives design patents by the US Patent Office
On August 14, 2018, Tesla Inc. earned a Design Patent Pair.
Numerous articles have been written about Nikola's $ 2 billion patent lawsuit against Tesla (see, for example, arstechnica, the Verge, Reuters, Bloomberg, Now You Know, Electrek …). So, everyone knows that Nikola has design patents. But so far, nothing has been written about the design patents recently awarded to Tesla.
- I have not yet found a single article revealing that four weeks ago, Tesla had won a pair of patents on the design of Tesla Semi Truck.
As a general rule, the United States Patent Office informs the applicant that his patent has been granted approximately three months before the deadline by which fees must be paid for the patent to be granted. But once it is notified that a patent is authorized, the immediate payment of taxes can be issued within one or two weeks.
Tesla probably learned that their patents had been authorized after August 1st, when they held the second quarter earnings call. I think they decided to immediately pay the fees and get the patents issued to help them in their defense.
What is important about these patents, is that they have disclosed the design of the Nikola semi-trailers. Thus, the US Patent Examiner had to determine whether the design of the Tesla semi-trailers was "unique" and "non-obvious" in relation to the design of the Nikola semi-trailers as well as many other Tesla listed in their semi-trailer list. trailers. art.
Below is an image of the US Patent Office showing some of the many prior art devices cited in the Tesla patent. "Milton" inventions are the Nikola patents. Milton is the CEO of Nikola.
(Source: US Patent Office here)
Because the examiner decided that Tesla's design was unique, a requirement for tolerance, the Nikola patent infringement lawsuit is (in my opinion) rendered dead and irrelevant.
For Nikola to win his case, the US Patent Examiner would have to make a mistake. It's very difficult to win (different patent attorneys have already said).
A few weeks ago, the Tesla semi-trailer toured the United States, going to Penske, J. B. Hunt, UPS and various other customers to show the new performance of the semi-trailers. I am waiting for the knowledge of the patent allocation to have triggered the moment of this trip. In other words, it seems that Tesla is no longer concerned about the Nikola suit.
The Tesla semi-trailer has made a real trip across the country using the existing US SuperCharger Network to charge its batteries. It's an achievement that no other semi-trailer manufacturer has been able to muster.
Trial invalid because of Shell Starship's prior art
I add this section to be thorough.
This is a second, or redundant, way that Tesla could use to invalidate patent infringement claims and thus kill the $ 2 billion lawsuit. I add it to confirm my expectation that the Nikola trial is about to be rejected, because when it is announced, the title should leap on the news.
The existence of Shell Starship designs in the public domain prior to Nikola's filing date means that Nikola Design's patents could potentially be attacked and invalidated.
The Nikola patents did not include the disclosure of Shell Starship (which I could find), which was made public before Nikola's design patent filing date. Below you will find two images of Shell Starship followed by Nikola Design.
This first Shell Starship design (below) was made public (May 13, 2015 or earlier) prior to the Nikola patent filing date (December 30, 2015) making this prior art the Nikola patent. Tesla's design is more like this design than Nikola's design.
(Source: Trucking Info, May 13, 2015 here)
The design of Shell Starship had already evolved to become the design below when the Nikola patent was filed. If Silwa and Shell did not file a patent for their design, when the form below was created, the Nikola design was not yet public. As a result, the design below was "obvious" at the time and therefore unpatentable. The design shows the general simplified geometry of the Tesla and Nikola semiconductors, as well as the swept window function. Any eligible patent should be unique in relation to the images above and below.
(Source: Overdrive online here)
This is the Nikola Semi Truck design (image below). Pay attention to the fact that the Nikola design does NOT provide functional or aesthetic aerodynamic flaps that match the trailer and reduce aerodynamic drag, just like the Tesla semi-trailer. There are steps to the outside as well as a grille at the front, all of which distinguishes Nikola design from Tesla design.
(Source: Carscoops here)
Here is the design of Tesla (picture below). Note that Tesla does not include front grill and that it has flaps that fit the trailer to improve aerodynamic efficiency, which Nikola does not do. The side does not have the steps that the Nikola does, and overall, the two designs are significantly different.
(source: Youtube video here)
It seems to me that Shell Starship's state of the art at Nikola prevents them from winning their patent infringement lawsuit even without the new Tesla patents.
With the new patents, it seems inevitable that Nikola loses the lawsuit and that the $ 2 billion threat is about to be eliminated.
Tesla is still the leader in the design of future semi-trailer trucks
Since the electric battery is superior to fuel cell trucking on an energy basis, I think Nikola will eventually die when the Tesla trailer is available. Tesla, or perhaps another company with a good semi battery combined with a good charging infrastructure, will eventually take over from the trucking industry.
Today, Tesla is the only company to offer a compelling solution for a truck as well as an existing charging infrastructure that trucks could use. Daimler (OTCPK: DMLRY) has a poorly equipped test truck for short local travel and zero charge infrastructure. On the other hand, Tesla semi-trailers can already transport goods all over the country using their existing compressor network.
Daimler still claims that the Tesla battery electric solution is impossible, recently claiming wrongly that the Tesla semiconductor violates the known physics. The above Daimler manager's claim is easily proven to be false by all mechanical engineering students, corroborating Musk's and Straubel's comments on it in the last call for winnings.
I myself did the calculations to find that Tesla only needed an 800 kWh battery to reach the 500 mile range, given the improved aerodynamic drag associated with the reduction rolling resistance of Super Singles.
That said, it is not at all clear that Tesla gets the funds to build the trailer production plant.
It is therefore not clear that Tesla is the first to start selling an attractive semi-trailer because of its lack of cash to build a new factory. Suffice to say that Tesla needs to bring more money to build a semi-trailer production line.
To do this, Tesla must gain trust. Tesla must demonstrate that they can actually generate a profit. Once done, they should be able to collect as much money as needed to build the next production lines for the Y model, the pickup, the roadster 2 and the semi.
What seems clear to me is that Tesla no longer needs to worry about the potential $ 2 billion threat imposed by Nikola.
From my point of view, the $ 2B Nikola costume is dead.
Conclusion
On August 14, 2018, Tesla obtained a pair of design patents for its semitrailer design. The patents disclosed Nikola's drawings, requiring the examiner to decide whether Tesla's design was unique compared to Nikola's prior art.
The allocation means that the US Patent Office has decided that Tesla's design is unique, which means that the Nikola suit is probably dead. This in turn means that Tesla can remove a potential $ 2 billion problem from its list of issues to be addressed.
I guess Tesla took her truck-trailer during a tour around the country to visit pre-order customers after they learned that their patents had been licensed. This coincidence of synchronization (the semi-trip and the granting of the patent) indicates that Tesla is convinced that the lawsuit is dead.
However, a formal dismissal has not been announced to my knowledge yet.
When the complaint is officially dropped, I think the good news will boost Tesla's share price by several percent. Long-term price projections are also expected to increase due to the elimination of the potential threat of $ 2 billion.
Therefore, keep an eye on the news of the dismissal of the complaint as a signal that the stock will rise.
Disclosure: I / we have no position in the actions mentioned and we do not plan to enter positions in the next 72 hours.
I have written this article myself and it expresses my own opinions. I do not receive compensation for this (other than Seeking Alpha). I have no business relationship with a company whose stock is mentioned in this article.
Editor's Note: This article discusses one or more securities that are not traded on a major US market. Please be aware of the risks associated with these stocks.
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