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Tesla loses the 'Cybercab' trademark to a French beverage company Unibev

CarCooler | 2026-01-09 13:17 | 727 views

Comments (66)
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asterlydian 2026-01-09 13:23

Since when are journalists so overtly biased? Or is this some two-bit "news" website? Edit: I'll add the quotes here so you don't have to give them clicks if you don't want to. The website disallows copying text so I'm not going to type the entire (short) article lol > Tesla Loses Trademark to 'Cybercab' in Comical Display of Incompetence (actual title of article) > This significant problem could have been easily avoided. > Little wonder that, with inept planning like this, China's BYD has overtaken Tesla as the world's top electric-vehicle seller. I mean, regardless of an article writer's personal views, at least a pinch of a modicum of a veneer of professionalism is kind of expected

TiredMillennialDad 2026-01-09 13:28

Hahahah

DOfferman7 2026-01-09 13:30

You’re just noticing this now? lol

Omacrontron 2026-01-09 13:32

Tesla dropped the ball on this one but in their defense, they waited less than 30 days to file for the name while the beverage company filed within 15 days of Tesla unveiling the cab lol. Still, they should have been on top of it lol.

mpompe 2026-01-09 13:33

Is "Johnny Cab" still available?

DisaffectedLShaw 2026-01-09 13:34

Reminds me of Apple with iTV, then learning that there was a massive channel (the first private TV station) in the UK (where I am from) called ITV. Hence why we have Apple TV

VeryRealHuman23 2026-01-09 13:43

You are reading motorbiscut.com not the WSJ lmao

bremidon 2026-01-09 13:45

Yep. But this company better watch their 6. Tesla is going to be looking for a little payback. Edit: I love that I am getting downvotes :) It reminds me that the haters have 0 sense of humor, but are always good for a laugh (though they will not understand the joke).

Munkadunk667 2026-01-09 13:46

It should have been filed and provisionally approved before Tesla announced it. This is 1.5 trillion dollar company and they act like a startup sometimes.

[deleted] 2026-01-09 13:52

[deleted]

Yoyodyne_1460 2026-01-09 13:55

They don’t advertise and they also don’t do lawyers very well either.

elysiansaurus 2026-01-09 13:58

Why does she French beverage company want the name cybercab

GeneticsGuy 2026-01-09 14:01

In case anyone wonders, US trademark law is not really based on who filed first. You have to actually demonstrate your intent and business plan for use of a trademark or else it can and will be stripped of you. What's happening here is a trademark squatter is hoping to get a quick payout by Tesla to avoid the 6 month to 18 month process for Tesla to re-aquire the trademark.

TheBigCicero 2026-01-09 14:04

Most “journalism” is not journalism.

TheBigCicero 2026-01-09 14:05

For publicity

ArtOfWarfare 2026-01-09 14:05

We discussed this in the investing sub a few days ago… we’re not lawyers, but we think this doesn’t impact Tesla at all. Unibev has almost no online presence. If you try to look them up, you mostly find stuff about this Cybercab trademark. Unibev filed the trademark as being for an electric vehicle. From what we can tell, this is a small brewer. It seems very safe to assume they don’t have any plans to make any electric vehicles. So if Tesla ignores the trademark dispute, Unibev has two options: they can sue Tesla, they go to discovery, they lose for not actually having any plans. Tesla countersues for frivolous lawsuits and trademark squatting. Or they do nothing and Tesla wins by Unibev not doing anything to protect their trademark. Best case for Unibev is that maybe they can convince Tesla to buy the trademark. I’m doubtful they can get Tesla to pay much for it.

Omacrontron 2026-01-09 14:12

I agree, I said they dropped the ball but it’s not as egregious as it sounds. A beverage company OBVIOUSLY took the name to be trolls and not because they wanted to make a cab or use the name for anything lol.

Present-Ad-9598 2026-01-09 14:19

Nice addition to the diner

Sir_Rumblebump 2026-01-09 14:27

—-

Quin1617 2026-01-09 14:30

Yep. Albeit they’ll likely get it taken away for that very reason. Filling first isn’t enough to save them.

Pox82 2026-01-09 14:30

Cyb3rcab

ThePlanner 2026-01-09 14:33

I really hope that Unibev has a sci-fi-themed Cabernet planned for the ‘Cybercab’ trademark.

Meepo-007 2026-01-09 14:54

Tesla should offer them a case of Coca Cola

omnibossk 2026-01-09 14:56

Elon will just rename it X-cab or something with a lot of X-es. Or replace some letters with Greek ones instead

zanhecht 2026-01-09 15:02

My understanding is that French trademark law only evaluates need for genuine use after 5 years.

zorg-18082 2026-01-09 15:04

Cybercab is a ludicrously stupid name

lazy_commander 2026-01-09 15:10

This is hilarious but man this article is so cringe. The author clearly dislikes Tesla and it shows.

Whit3boy316 2026-01-09 15:10

I like robotaxi more

Austinswill 2026-01-09 15:12

Yea not only this... but in the USA at least, multiple entities can have the same trademark... so long as the products are not likely to be confused with one another... and no one is going to mistake a Cybercab car for a Cybercab beverage

Shot-Fox4243 2026-01-09 15:29

Wow

bremidon 2026-01-09 16:02

Somebody has not done their homework on Musk if they think he is going to just pay them off. He'll meme them endlessly, drag them whereever he can, make their life miserable, and eventually just get it back. Tesla is the company that effectively broke the Swedish unions. Anyone willing to wait that out is not going to sweat this.

deckeda 2026-01-09 16:12

Freedom fries

Anal_Herschiser 2026-01-09 16:22

Maybe it's short for Cyber-Cabernet, only the finest of wines for Tech Bros.

TheEnigmaBlade 2026-01-09 16:27

The beverage company filed for the trademark in the vehicle category, so Tesla's application was suspended for the very reason of products being potentially confused with one another. It's all in the article.

ArtOfWarfare 2026-01-09 17:38

They filed in the US. The US does not like squatters.

specter491 2026-01-09 17:41

To extort Tesla for money

icy1007 2026-01-09 18:17

They didn’t lose it. They still have a chance to get it reassigned to them.

HenryLoenwind 2026-01-09 18:22

Not an issue. Tesla can simply file a dispute, claiming they were already using the unregistered Trademark and had a bigger market presence when Unibev filed their application. As Tesla showed a product prototype two weeks before Unibev filed, and Unibev has exactly nothing, the result is clear.

yetiflask 2026-01-09 18:36

What an absolute L.

makoblade 2026-01-09 19:11

There's no defense here. Tesla should have filed for that shit before their announcement, not a month later. It's not like the other guys were sitting, hoping to register the name immediately on announcement - they probably happened upon the opportunity and figured getting Elon's panties in a bunch for some publicity was worth the cost of admission.

makoblade 2026-01-09 19:13

To be fair, none of those statements are false. Embellished for clicks, sure, but not false.

DaSandman78 2026-01-09 19:19

Cyber squatting

DaSandman78 2026-01-09 19:20

Not just a chance, it WILL be given to them

racergr 2026-01-09 19:22

Source on “broke” the Swedish unions? Are they not still on strike?

Lonely-Speed9943 2026-01-09 19:36

Maybe they're launching an AI drinks cabinet.

Dr_Pippin 2026-01-09 20:01

CyberCabernet?

Oo0o8o0oO 2026-01-09 20:03

Was it ever called Cybercab? It’s Cybertruck and Robotaxi right?

bremidon 2026-01-09 21:35

You know, I probably overstepped by saying "broke", although I think it is fairly close to the reality of the situation. The Tesla strike in Sweden is technically still ongoing, but only in a formal sense. The actions that actually created pressure on Tesla, especially sympathy strikes and blockades, have largely been withdrawn or constrained, leaving no path to escalation. Tesla has not signed a collective agreement and continues to operate more or less normally, which is the core measure of success in this dispute. The reason it no longer makes the news is that nothing is changing, and labor conflicts without escalation stop being newsworthy. Calling it “ongoing” (rather than "broken") is accurate procedurally, but misleading if it’s meant to suggest the unions still have leverage. There are still “strikes,” but with no leverage left they amount to little more than face-saving theater after a badly misjudged confrontation that Tesla already won.

omnibossk 2026-01-09 21:54

Robotaxi couldn’t be trademarked because it’s generic, not because someone beat them to it.

TheBattleGnome 2026-01-09 23:15

Yeah their ploy is obvious, but then again they honestly have nothing to lose. That’s why so many people do this to begin with.

imnotcreative635 2026-01-09 23:20

I can't believe we are wasting our time with trademarks and patents. Let's actually develop something new for once.

racergr 2026-01-10 00:48

Ok, thank you!!

Arte-misa 2026-01-10 03:02

They might have registered "CyberCoca"...

goodvibezone 2026-01-10 03:57

Oh boy that site is cancerous with popups even with an ad blocker. But they didn't lose it. Yet.

Soggy_Surprise1987 2026-01-10 16:36

![gif](giphy|12msOFU8oL1eww)

DiagCarFix 2026-01-10 17:48

they just want to steal some $ from tesla purely intentional

Medical-Frame2180 2026-01-11 00:43

They should just buy the name off of them

Peemore 2026-01-11 03:37

CyberCola definitely has a better ring to it.

sdinvest 2026-01-11 19:56

Tesla announced the name without filing it? But they used the name first before the beverage company reserved the name from what I am reading. Unless bev company has been using "cybercab" before Tesla mentioned it!

NinjaN-SWE 2026-01-13 12:12

While I'm absolutely on the side that the Union is losing the fight; mainly because Tesla just doesn't give a damn and has seemingly no issues burning cash to avoid signing the collective agreement. I must point out that Tesla is bleeding in Sweden, with the largest drawback in sales in Europe at an impressive -67% compared to 2024. Going from number 6 to number 11 out of the 15 largest European markets.  Sure a lot of that drawback is not because of the strike, but I'm positive it's a contributor given that it's a factor on top that the other nations don't have.

j0shman 2026-01-14 02:07

Maybe they’ll get Chat to write up a fake business plan and submit it to put some sort of pressure for a payout

rydan 2026-01-14 08:05

That's what I've been saying. All the media keeps saying, "Unibev owns it, dumb Elon" but you have to actually use the trademark. But not only that the way you use it matters. Unibev doesn't make cars. Tesla would have filed for cars specifically and Unibev is either not going to use it or going to use it for beer. So the trademarks would not even conflict regardless.

Few-Masterpiece3910 2026-01-15 07:20

They had a previous dispute with Tesla because they had a product like Teslaquila. (They are a beverage company). This is them getting back at Tesla for “stealing” their trademark.

[deleted] 2026-01-15 10:46

I can totally take on Elon

Parcours97 2026-01-20 14:04

>Tesla has not signed a collective agreement and continues to operate more or less normally I would really like to drive a Tesla but I won't give an anti union asshole a single cent.

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