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Tesla trademark suit in China ends with settlement

After years of fighting, Tesla has finally put its trademark dispute in China with businessman Zhan Baosheng behind it, thanks to an undisclosed settlement. The news comes at a perfect time for the automaker, which is still setting up its dealers there.
According to an email from Tesla cited by Bloomberg, the two sides came to an agreement "completely and amicably," but the business isn't revealing what it cost to resolve the conflict. As part of the settlement, Zhan is also transferring his ownership of the tesla.cn and teslamotors.cn over to the company. "Mr. Zhan has agreed to have the Chinese authorities complete the process of canceling the Tesla trademarks that he had registered or applied for, at no cost to Tesla," said the statement, according to Bloomberg. "Collectively, these actions remove any doubt with respect to Tesla's undisputed rights to its trademarks in China."
Zhan had claimed to hold the trademark on the Tesla name in China since 2009, but he was appealing a ruling by the country's courts invalidating those rights. The situation heated up even further in July when Zhan sued the automaker for trademark infringement and asked for 23.9 million yuan ($3.9 million) in damages, plus for the company shut down all of its operations there. Tesla had reportedly already attempted to settle with him years ago for 2 million yuan ($325,000 at current rates), but Zhan countered with a figure of the equivalent of over $32 million.

Best and worst car brands of 2022 according to Consumer Reports

It's that time again, Consumer Reports this morning lifting the curtain on its 2022 Annual Car Brand rankings and its 10 Top Picks in the car, crossover, and truck category. Drumroll, please: This year, Subaru climbs two spots to claim the winner's circle, having come third the last two years. Last year, Mazda climbed three spots from 2020 to take the crown. This year, Mazda slipped to second, BMW taking the last spot on the podium, also a one-spot drop from 2021. Six automakers in the top 10 hailed from Japan, which is one more than last year, and five luxury makers occupied the top 10, which is two more than last year. And South Korean representation didn't crack the top this year, after Hyundai managed tenth last year. The seven makes after BMW are: Honda, Lexus, Audi, Porsche, Mini, Toyota, and Infiniti.  The magazine and testing concern says its Brand Report Card "[reveals] which automakers are producing the most well-performing, safe, and reliable vehicles based on CR’s independent testing and member surveys," and that "Brands that rise to the top tend to have the most consistent performance across their model lineups." The domestics also took steps back among the 32 OEMs ranked on the 2022 card. Chrysler and Buick were the domestic carmakers who made last year's top 10 in eighth and ninth, respectively. This year, Buick dropped to eleventh, Chrysler to thirteenth. Dodge went from fourteenth to sixteenth. CR continues to ding Tesla's yoke steerer, the not-exactly-natural handhold responsible for the electric carmaker going from sixteenth last year to twenty-third this year.

City of LA's electric vehicle fleet adds Tesla Model S, BMW i3

For anyone who thought that Los Angeles' efforts to turn its traffic problems green would end after a partnership with Waze, think again. The City of Angels has committed to leasing 160 battery-powered electric vehicles and 128 plug-in hybrids for its municipal fleet. A post on the LAPD blog says that the police, fire, general services, water and power departments will split the former, while the general services will also take all of the latter. Mayor Eric Garcetti says that this move puts LA closer to its goal of becoming the "most sustainable city in America." For now it has to settle for having the largest city-owned fleet of battery-powered rides. The blog post goes on to say that as part of this Sustainable City pLAn (not a typo), it also has a shiny new Tesla Model S P85D and BMW i3 for "testing and research." Hopefully that includes seeing how effective Ludicrous Mode is against fleeing perps. #LAPD: @LAPDChiefBeck speaking at the news conference on Historic Transition to Green Energy Vehicles. pic.twitter.com/n1KdFOrX8F — LAPD HQ (@LAPDHQ) September 11, 2015 This article by Timothy J. Seppala originally ran on Engadget, the definitive guide to this connected life. News Source: LAPDImage Credit: LAPD on Twitter Government/Legal Green Bentley Tesla Electric lapd