Faraday Future Facing Trademark Lawsuit Over Its Own Name
Faraday Future, which spent 2016 as the automotive poster child for bad news, continues to face a myriad of problems. In this most recent hardship, we learn Faraday couldn’t even manage to choose a company name without stirring a legal backlash.
Faraday Bicycles, which manufactures electric-assisted pedal bikes, has filed a trademark lawsuit against Faraday Future in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. In the complaint, filed Tuesday, the e-bike company states Faraday Future has been infringing on its name — which it officially trademarked in October 2013. The legal action follows a November claim against FF over the acquisition of its domain name and nearly endless financial woes.
Faraday Future has only been in existence since 2015. The lawsuit, shared by Jalopnik, includes information on a rejected trademark application from 2016. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office denied the request after reasoning the automaker’s name would easily be confused with the bicycle brand. Faraday Bicycles is currently seeking an injunction and unspecified damages.
Since both companies derive their names from a nineteenth century British physicist whose research paved the way for later electric discoveries, I’m not inclined to give one more credit than the other in coming up with a unique name. It isn’t as if the Faraday family is involved with either company. However, trademark law is pretty clear. You can apply it to practically any phrase or word and successfully prohibit anyone else from using it.
While Faraday Future probably could have made a case for itself by explaining how dissimilar its hypothetical product is from a bicycle, the trademark rejection from 2016 is pretty damning. So, even if FF manages to survive the onslaught of legal problems and financial trouble, it might have to continue on as Edison Motors if an injunction passes.
However, this could be a blessing in disguise. Faraday doesn’t yet produce anything with its name stamped on it, and distancing itself from a name synonymous with bad publicity could hold some advantages.
[Image: Faraday Future]
Consumer advocate tracking industry trends and regulations. Before joining TTAC, Matt spent a decade working for marketing and research firms based in NYC. Clients included several of the world’s largest automakers, global tire brands, and aftermarket part suppliers. Dissatisfied, he pivoted to writing about cars. Since then, he has become an ardent supporter of the right-to-repair movement, been interviewed about the automotive sector by national broadcasts, participated in a few amateur rallying events, and driven more rental cars than anyone ever should. Handy with a wrench, Matt grew up surrounded by Detroit auto workers and learned to drive by twelve. A contrarian, Matt claims to prefer understeer and motorcycles.
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The US needs some major reforms to copyright laws. "faraday" is almost like using the word "electric" in your name. The current legal environment is set up to benefit lawyers and shakedowns.
saddest thing about this is faraday bicycles make the ugliest retro-grouch electric bikes imaginable. who'd ever mistake their sad crap for the chinese vapourware car maker's?