- Starship Technologies filed emblems for “Starship” and “Robovan” earlier than SpaceX and Tesla did.
- The robotics startup made trademark filings in 2015 and 2017 respectively, which have been authorised in 2019.
Robotic startup Starship Technologies has just a few issues in frequent with Elon Musk’s rocket firm, SpaceX, and EV big Tesla.
Besides sharing the identical title as SpaceX’s spacecraft, the corporate additionally has a trademark for “Robovan” — the title Tesla has chosen for its self-driving cargo van. The firm makes a speciality of autonomous supply robots.
When requested about Tesla’s Robovan, a spokesperson for Starship mentioned in an electronic mail to Business Insider on October 11 that the Robovan “was an important concept after we got here up with it 7 years in the past.”
To be certain, Starship’s Robovan is not a self-driving car like Tesla’s. Musk first showcased the Tesla Robovan on October 10 in Burbank, California, throughout Tesla’s “We, Robot” occasion.
In a 2016 YouTube video, Starship described its Robovan as a car designed to retailer and deploy its autonomous supply robots.
“Starship is a good title too; we additionally had that first and trademarked it,” the spokesperson wrote in the identical electronic mail.
According to United States Patent and Trademark Office data, Starship filed emblems for “Starship” and “Robovan” in July 2015 and July 2017, respectively.
Both purposes have been efficiently registered in May 2019 and April 2019, respectively.
SpaceX filed a trademark for “Starship” in March 2023, although it has not been authorised as of press time.
SpaceX’s utility was filed below three use instances — rockets and their structural components, rocket launching platforms, and scale or toy fashions of rockets, satellites, and launch pads.
Starship’s utility was made in regards to the transport, supply, and transport of products.
In reality, SpaceX and Starship Technologies aren’t the one corporations which have filed emblems utilizing the phrase “Starship.”
The New Belgium Brewing Company, a Colorado-headquartered brewery, made a submitting for a taste of beer in March 2016. Then, in August 2023, NYC Harbor Tours made a submitting for a cruise tour of the identical title.
Starship’s “Robovan” utility was filed below 5 use instances — gears and enclosed drives for industrial equipment, land automobiles, on-line transportation logistics providers, transport and supply of products, in addition to for non-downloadable software program that allows shippers to handle pick-ups and deliveries.
Tesla has but to file a trademark for “Robovan” with the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
Musk’s firm, X, has individually run into some trademark points.
In October 2023, a authorized advertising company referred to as X Social Media sued Musk’s social media platform X in federal courtroom in Florida. Musk purchased Twitter in October 2022 and renamed it X in July 2023.
“The media protection and a focus generated by the launch has rapidly induced reverse confusion and led customers to consider that X Social Media’s promoting providers are being provided by or are related to X Corp,” the corporate mentioned in its lawsuit.
A Florida federal decide declined to dismiss the lawsuit in July.
Also in July, a PR agency named Multiply filed an analogous lawsuit in California federal courtroom.
In an announcement to Reuters, a spokesperson for Multiply accused Musk of “shamelessly” stealing “the established identification of our social media and PR company.”
Representatives for Tesla and SpaceX didn’t reply to requests for remark from BI despatched exterior common enterprise hours.
