Nio To Retain Model Name Trademarks In Europe Despite Opposition From Audi

Chinese electric vehicle maker Nio Inc. (NYSE:NIO) emerged unscathed from Volkswagen AG‘s (OTC: VWAGY) (OTC: VWAPY) Audi‘s request to invalidate its ES8 and ES6 trademarks in Europe.

What Happened: A month ago, a German court had ruled in favor of Audi in a lawsuit against Nio. Now, a local intellectual property agency has ruled in favor of Nio.

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The European Union Intellectual Property Office, or EUIPO, ruled there is no possibility of confusion between Nio’s ES8 and ES6 and Audi’s S8 and S6, reported CnEVPost.

Audi had filed trademark invalidation proceedings against Nio, alleging that the Chinese EV maker’s SUV model names infringed its trademark rights.

Though in January the German court ruled in favor of Audi and said the names might indeed cause confusion, Nio further appealed.

The judge then said that though the names were different, the distinguishing letter “E” would not suffice to differentiate the two brands as it could be misconstrued for Audi’s electric models. Consumers might think it’s just a switch from a gasoline-powered Audi to an electric vehicle, the judge had said.

Owing to the proceedings, in October, Nio launched the SUV known as ES7 in China as EL7 in Europe. But given the recent progress, Nio’s trademarks will remain valid in the European Union.

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