Tesla accuses Nikola of Copyright Violations
The EV truck company has apparently stolen the design from Rimac´s designer Adriano Mudri.

Surprisingly, Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA) said its Nikola Corporation (NASDAQ: NKLA) truck design was stolen by Adriano Mudri, the designer at Rimac. Nikola previously said the Tesla electric truck's design infringed its prevailing patents. The company received three patents for the design of the Nikola One Truck launched in 2016. Nikola introduced One Truck a year before the Tesla electric forklift was introduced. The company is demanding $ 2 billion in damages from Tesla for infringing its patents. Tesla dismissed Nikola’s lawsuit. The company said it could provide evidence that no patents are infringed. It even said the patents Nikola One had obtained were invalid because the company failed to reveal that Adriano designed the features of the Nikola One truck. Tesla responds to Nikola’s claim that Adriano is designing the hydrogen-powered road runner concept truck. It states that Trevor Milton held a meeting with Adriano in 2014 and 2015. Trevor knew that the Tesla Road Runner Truck had features like the wrap-around windshield similar to the Nikola One Truck. Trevor acquired the original design for Nikola’s flagship truck from a Croatian-based designer. It contradicts Trevor's claims in the 2018 litigation that he drew the vehicle pictures in his basement. Nikola is at the center of the controversy by demanding Tesla $ 2 billion for violating its truck design. The company says it started work on the truck's design in 2013, while employees at other companies didn't start working on it until much later. In dismissing the lawsuit last week, Tesla said that Nikolas truck designs are not in-house and cannot be protected. He said the designs were made by a Croatian-based designer - Adriano. Two people familiar with the matter said Nikolas founder acquired the design in 2015 when he met Adriano.





