Certainly not at first. Like Rutan he was a gifted and unconventional engineer. With some flair for self-promotion.
One of my USAF pals worked for awhile as a factory demo pilot for the -5J. Stupid fun to fly he said. But with some noxious corners best not explored by amateurs.
In his telling, by then Bede had become a legend in his own mind and all caution was thrown to the wind. If he could sketch it, they would start selling it. Whether he let down his team or surrounded himself with people who let him down is arguable. But by the end the motivations didn’t much matter; the result was plenty stinky for those on the outside.
Tesla (the company) certainly noticed. Nikola and Tesla have been involved in a number of ongoing trademark and patent disputes. (The latter focusing largely on design patents regarding the Tesla semi, which unlike the Nikola one seems to actually work and drive under its own power, though is far from ready for production.)
I remember from business law class you can’t have a name similar to another business name so not surprised Tesla is suing. also reminds me of Isis pharma which changed their name to Ionis for obvious reasons.
No, I don’t think the choice was accidental but they still aren’t similar. And it is a pretty small percentage of the population that associates the words ‘Tesla’ and ‘Nikola’. I don’t know what the laws are to apply here, but this can’t be a problem based on similarity of names.
" Although the weight given to the relevant du Pont factors may vary, the following two factors are key considerations in any likelihood of confusion determination:
The similarity or dissimilarity of the marks in their entireties as to appearance, sound, connotation and commercial impression.
The relatedness of the goods or services as described in the application and registration(s)."
I think Nikola and Tesla are similar in terms of connotation and commercial impression. The goods themselves are identical, given that both companies are developing electric Semi trucks. The idea that the name Nikola wasn’t selected to imply a connection with Tesla doesn’t pass the smell test.
An update: the former CEO was convicted of fraud but hasn’t been sentenced yet:
The company is still in operation but isn’t doing very well [$450 million loss on revenues of $51 million in 2022] :
Nikola produced 258 Tre BEVs and delivered 131 to dealers for revenue of $50.8 million in 2022. But it cost $155.6 million to sell the trucks, resulting in a gross loss of $104.8 million. Not counting $255.4 million in stock-based compensation, $23.2 million in legal expenses and the $14.6 million to acquire Romeo, Nikola’s net loss for the year was $450.2 million. The company produced 133 Tre BEVs in Q4. It delivered 20 trucks and 21 chargers to dealers, with an average selling price of $374,000.
“Trevor Milton lied to investors again and again — on social media, on television, on podcasts, and in print,” US Attorney Damian Williams said in a statement. “But today’s sentence should be a warning to start-up founders and corporate executives everywhere — ‘fake it till you make it’ is not an excuse for fraud, and if you mislead your investors, you will pay a stiff price.”
Milton will also turn over property in Utah and pay a $1 million fine, the Justice Department said in a news release. He will also face three years of supervised release after completing his prison sentence.
The pardon of Milton, who was sentenced to four years in prison for exaggerating the potential of his technology, could wipe out hundreds of millions of dollars in restitution that prosecutors were seeking for defrauded investors.
And undoubtedly a coincidence:
Milton, 42, and his wife donated more than $1.8 million to a Trump re-election campaign fund less than a month before the November election, according to the Federal Election Commission.