Last week Tesla filed an intent-to-use trademark application with the United States Patent and Trademark Office in the restaurant category. Specifically, it is for “Restaurant services, pop-up restaurant services, self-service restaurant services, [and] take-out restaurant services.” They will have six months from the date of the application filing to submit proof of use of the mark in that class of services in order to have it registered which means we could be seeing the Tesla brand associated with a restaurant in the near future. According to several news sources, the company plans to open a restaurant in connection with their charging station that is located in Los Angeles, CA and Elon Musk, Tesla’s CEO, has been tweeting about the idea for a few years now.
Tesla currently has 43 active trademark applications with the USPTO. Last year, they filed an intent-to-use application in the category of “distilled agave liquor.” In relation to that filing, they received a refusal from the Examining Attorney based on a likelihood of confusion with two other marks that have the word “Tesla” incorporated in their marks. Tesla responded to this refusal, but it was ultimately denied because the Examining Attorney did not find their arguments persuasive. Hopefully they will have better luck in the restaurant space with the registration of this mark. Based on a brief preliminary search, there does not appear to be any other marks using the word “Tesla” in relation to any type of restaurant services so they very well may be in luck!