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Tesla Wins One Over Chinese Trademark Troll
cartechboy writes "The Tesla Model S went on sale in China this week, at a price of $121,000--which is the same $79,900 price as in the U.S. plus a whole bunch of other costs tacked on, mostly the customs duty China uses to protect its own auto industry and a stiff value-added tax. But that's not the big news. Lost in the announcement was the news that Tesla got its brand name back from a Chinese trademark troll who'd registered it in 2006, even before the very first electric Roadster was sold in the States. So now the company's stores can carry the name "Te Si La," which is the Chinese transliteration most familiar to consumers in that country. Score one more for Tesla Motors."
As mentioned in the article, most buyers in China will get this more for show than for the environment. At least in the U.S. when trolls call electric cars pointless, I can point to the 100% wind power on my electric bill and be smug about it, or at least point out that big industrial power plants in the countryside can scrub and dilute their exhaust more efficiently than thousands of cars crammed in a little city, but in China I think the power plants right now are probably just as bad.
I do find it strange that the article mentions China incentivizing electric vehicles to reduce smog, while also pointing out the huge import duties Tesla has to pay. Given how cheap almost everything made in China is here, I didn't realize that they could tax our exports of anything that highly.
It doesn't hurt to be nice.
Trademarks exist to ensure that consumers know the source of the goods they buy. If you aren't selling the public something using the name, then you can't tie up the name merely by registering a trademark and sitting around (as this guy seems to have done.) There was no need for Tesla to bargain, because there was no segment of the vehicle buying public that would be confused by Tesla selling the vehicles under their own name.
Eh, are you serious? You can't just trademark the names of products that are not yours in countries where they have not yet applied just to blackmail the company. If you have a legitimate product and you are the first to register that name for it, it is all good and they will have to pay you to get it back. But this guy just registered the name and made a fake "Tesla Motors China" website, complete with the Tesla logo and a car he had no relation to, then asked for millions.
Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent. Polar Scope Align for iOS
Tesla was not competent enough to register the trademark in all markets it was going to do business, and someone else did. Rather than working out some medication where Tesla paid for the lack of foresight, it was simply taken away. I don't think that the ruling was wrong, obviously China does not value the free market the way the US does, but there should have a happy middle between millions of dollars and something reasonable to pay.
The only reasonable value to pay to a troll is zero. Actually, no. The correct amount is that the troll pays the victim for their trouble and legal fees. A reasonable compromise is zero. The company in question was 100% troll. They were not doing business under that name. They had no intention of doing business under the Tesla name. This is true regardless of whether Tesla was "competent" enough to defensively register its name in all markets before it had product to sell just in case a troll an idea how to make some easy, unearned money.
So, how long before I can buy a "Ta Su Lo" from one of those lock-ups in the neighborhood next Beijing's Pearl Market?
the customs duty China uses to protect its own auto industry
But remember, we have free trade!
No really, all you have to do is define it such that "free trade" means the US has to bend over, while China, etc. get to do whatever they want to protect their industries.
And you are OK with Patent Trolls as well? Because it's the same mindset that drives both these "business models" - gain control of something you have no intention of using yourself except to extort money from some company that has a fat wallet.
Classy.
If you want news from today, you have to come back tomorrow.
Sure you can. You don't know Chinese law. Just another ignorant foreigner who thinks he can breeze into China and things will be just like they are back home. Nine times out of ten when you hear the "China screwed me" story it means "I couldn't be bothered to learn anything about local laws and just assumed I could do whatever I wanted." China has laws, but you have to use them, and most people don't bother to learn. Check chinalawblog.com for endless stories on this topic.
Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
Pretty much. That goes for any country. But in China at least, knowing the right people in the CCP can get you far. But, unless you know some extremely powerful people, that kind of pull only works for small to medium business. Companies that are already heavily international or have deep pockets do tend to catch the eye of the diplomates. At that level, international politics can come into play. You don't hear about it in the news, but you can be sure there's a few phone calls that happen behind the scenes. You won't get that kind of support for your own piss-ant LLC, but you will if you're somebody like Google or Apple.
Life is not for the lazy.
is because the Chinese claimed that it was a Chinese Tesla Motor Car. IOW, he was a pure troll, nothing more. Now, had he been off developing something totally none-related, he likely would have stood a chance. But when you are a a troll, even China will sometimes strick you down.
I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
I can't imagine living in a world where 70 thousand dollars must seem like something obtainable only by the top 1%
??!?!
Unless you live on Mars, you *do* live in that world.
To BILLIONS of people "in this world" a $70K+ car is something obtainable only by the top 1%. To the deeply impoverished of Africa, India and Asia - And some parts of South America - Spending more money than they will see in their entire lives on a car seems unimaginable, especially when you consider spending $40K on a car and then spreading your 'leftover' $30K in an African village on goats, vaccinations, mosquito nets, school supplies and a well will improve their lives dramatically.
You will literally be saving the lives of children.
Sure you'll be driving a Leaf instead of a Tesla, but so what?
Yeah, yeah, I'm a commie. Whatever. Stop buying stupidly expensive cars and help your fellow man.
because the peasants will revolt if they have to spend 10% more at walmart on shoddily made bullshit from China. =/
Oh gimme a fucking break. "Unless you know the right people in the CCP" is a load of horseshit. I know a bunch of commies, and most of them can't do anything for you. They have a narrow focus and even in their own offices they can't do anything if it's someone else's department.
Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
Good grief, you sound like some small-town businessman who thinks he can get a Pentagon contract because he "knows a bunch of people in Washington". Random paper pushers can't do shit for you, heads of governmental departments can get shit done. You're right that "most of them can't do anything for you", there's a difference between between most people and the "right people".
"Think about how stupid the average person is. Now, realise that half of them are dumber than that." - George Carlin
I'm an American, and while I probably walk past at the grocery store that make over $70k/year, being approx. seven times as much as my own income makes it feel like it might as well be something only the really rich people have.
Now mostly at Usenet:comp.misc & SoylentNews.org (it's made of people!)
Saying that the government should take the money from people to do that would make you a commie.
Saying that it is the personal responsibility of people to do that make you a conservative.
Repeating that meme because you want to lessen what others are saying and because you read it so often from liberal sites just makes you an idiot.
I'm talking about Communist China, not Washington, and you're arguing my point not disagreeing.
Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
Reading through this thread, you're guilty of it too. GP said "right people in the CCP" and specified "extremely powerful people". Odds are that YOU don't know any of these 'extremely powerful people', even though you know a 'bunch of commies'. You know paper pushers, not movers&shakers as Cusco mentioned.
And there's probably more similarities between the rulers of Communist China and 'Washington' than with common people. Elan Musk probably promised the prospect of a space rocket ride(or a little assistance with the Chinese space program), or even just a car to the *RIGHT* person, who then arranged for the patent troll(who's probably peon level) to get slapped down.
I don't read AC A human right
Like I said, "knowing extremely powerful people". You do realize that most (if not all) major industries and the companies that run them are state sponsored right? Therefore, they answer directly to the CCP. It's corrupt as hell. Even high ranking officials can get you arrested for any excuse. The law only applies when someone of higher political stature says so. Equality is nonexistent in that country. The whole system is a fucking joke!
Life is not for the lazy.
I know how much my fellow slashdotters like to nitpick and complain, the place wouldn't feel like home without you curmudgeons out there. (smile) I know *I* don't like the new version, I've never liked any of the new versions that have come along, always sticking with the closest thing to the classic interface that is offered at the time. I prefer the green-bar printout inspired listing of story summaries, not something that looks like it came out of a glossy magazine or pop culture website.
The way I look at it, the more images, the larger the graphics, the more space devoted to pretty floating banners, the less room there is for actual content I shouldn't have to do a full page scroll just to move from one story to the next.
I need a wheelchair van for my son. Help me get the word out. https://www.gofundme.com/wheelchair-van-for-jj
Buying a Tesla does help your fellow man. We need to move to electric vehicles and reduce dependency on oil and coal. As well as reducing your own output of pollution you help popularize EVs and show that they are viable and profitable.
I'm under now illusion that spending that kind of money on a car is some kind of act of charity, but you could do a lot worse.
const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
Giving $30k to an organization for Africa doesn't help anyone. The Africans themselves either steal or waste the money. Don't ask me - ask the NGOs that work there, they'll give you an earful as long as they don't think anyone's listening and will nail them for racism.
Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
Is it better than 10 people have great lives, or that 50 people have mediocre lives?
Why OpalCalc is the best Windows calc
Sure you can. You don't know Chinese law. Just another ignorant foreigner who thinks he can breeze into China and things will be just like they are back home. Nine times out of ten when you hear the "China screwed me" story it means
...that China has bullshit, protectionist laws which permit them to screw people. The nature doesn't differentiate them from other nations, only the scope.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
Lets try this and see how it works...
But in [Insert country here] at least, knowing the right people in the [ruling party of that country] can get you far.
Now can someone list a country where this is not the case?
Every second day there are stories about the XXAA passing favourable laws, and now we want to pretend this is a "china thing" as its convenient?
Elon Musk didn't bribe anyone, there's perfectly good legal avenues available. When you bribe an official, you can't stop once you've started. It's a poor business decision. If you depend on him to do business, eventually he will retire or go to jail and you're screwed.
"One of the things I have always found troubling about Westerners doing business in emerging market countries is that they sometimes take an almost perverse pride in discussing payoffs to government officials. It is as though their having paid a bribe is a symbol of their international sophistication and insider knowledge. Yet, countless times when I am told of the bribe, I know the very same thing could almost certainly have been accomplished without a bribe."
--Dan Harris, chinalawblog.com
Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
For many, they honestly don't have the extra 10% to spend. Look at some charts of inflation adjusted income since the 60's.
Something like this: http://www.advisorperspectives...
SSDs were stupid expensive, but because the rich bought them, now they're affordable for most people at just over 500$ for a terabyte (affordable at least in first world countries, but obviously eventually for the third world). Had it not been for those rich people, it would have been much harder for SSDs to gain traction.
Same will go for OLED TVs and electric cars.
Why OpalCalc is the best Windows calc
Let's say you're neither.
Why OpalCalc is the best Windows calc
Exactly.
Someone had to buy those personal computers in the 1980s for $3000 a pop (or more) in order to drive the efficiencies that lead to the current wave of sub-$500 PCs that are all over the place.
If someone wants to spend more to be at the forefront, why not congratulate them and allow the march of progress continue?
Help! I'm a slashdot refugee.
Buying a Tesla does help your fellow man. We need to move to electric vehicles and reduce dependency on oil and coal
That's why I said buy a Nissan Leaf instead and use the leftover $30K to help some kids.
That's right, there's kids dying in Africa right now because their parents can't afford mosquito nets to protect them from Malaria. Luckily, they can take cold comfort in the fact that one day they'll be able to buy an OLED TV.
If someone wants to spend more to be at the forefront, why not congratulate them and allow the march of progress continue?
Because they're doing enough of that congratulation themselves whilst whizzing past you in the carpool lane or while making passive aggressive comments about how 'gas guzzlers' should be banned by the government.
echo -e 'global _start\n _start:\n mov eax, 2\n int 80h\n jmp _start' > a.asm; nasm a.asm -f elf; ld a.o -o a;
If life is so miserable, then why keep having more children? I'd feel terrible about bringing kids into this world knowing they could die so young, or at least endure a life of poverty. At the very least, it's selfish.
What do you think of the so-called 'prime directive' from Star Trek?
Why OpalCalc is the best Windows calc
Source please.
Elon Musk didn't bribe anyone, there's perfectly good legal avenues available. When you bribe an official, you can't stop once you've started. It's a poor business decision. If you depend on him to do business, eventually he will retire or go to jail and you're screwed.
I wasn't actually thinking about anything so official as a 'bribe'.
But yeah, you're right that bribing is a bad idea.
I don't read AC A human right