Nikola Sued Tesla for $2 Billion. Its Truck Couldn't Drive.

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In 2018, a company named after Nikola Tesla sued a company named after Nikola Tesla. Nikola said the Tesla Semi copied its design and claimed more than $2 billion. The patents it sued on were design patents for the Nikola One's fuselage, windshield and side door. A design patent protects how something looks, not whether it works. The Nikola One never drove on its own power. What happened next: the case was dropped by both sides in 2022 with no ruling on infringement. Founder Trevor Milton was convicted of securities and wire fraud in 2022 and later pardoned. In 2025 those three design patents were sold out of Nikola's bankruptcy in a $3.85 million package that included more than a hundred trucks. Patents shown: US D811,944 (Fuselage) · US D811,968 (Wrap windshield) · US D816,004 (Side door) · US D814,357 (Semi-truck) · US 10,207,751 (Motor gearbox assembly) Sources - Nikola Corp. v. Tesla, Inc., complaint (D. Ariz. 2:18-cv-01344, May 1, 2018): https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.azd.1095834/gov.uscourts.azd.1095834.1.0.pdf - Order re motion to dismiss (N.D. Cal. 3:18-cv-07460, Sept. 9, 2020): https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.cand.335954/gov.uscourts.cand.335954.127.0.pdf - Order to show cause (Sept. 29, 2021): https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.cand.335954/gov.uscourts.cand.335954.157.0.pdf - Stipulated dismissal (Jan. 4, 2022): https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.cand.335954/gov.uscourts.cand.335954.168.0.pdf - Hindenburg Research report (Sept. 10, 2020): https://hindenburgresearch.com/nikola/ - Nikola's response (Sept. 14, 2020), via TechCrunch: https://techcrunch.com/2020/09/14/nikola-disputes-fraud-claims-in-carefully-worded-rebuttal - U.S. Attorney, SDNY, sentencing release (Dec. 18, 2023): https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/trevor-milton-sentenced-four-years-prison-securities-fraud-scheme - Verdict (Oct. 14, 2022), TT News: https://www.ttnews.com/articles/nikola-founder-trevor-milton-guilty-defrauding-investors - DOJ Office of the Pardon Attorney, clemency grants: https://www.justice.gov/pardon/clemency-grants-president-donald-j-trump-2025-present - Hyroad Energy buys Nikola's trucks and IP (TT News): https://www.ttnews.com/articles/hyroad-nikola-trucks-ip - Nikola valued near Ford, June 2020 (Motley Fool): https://www.fool.com/investing/2020/06/09/as-stock-price-more-than-doubles-nikola-founder-bo.aspx - Tesla Semi enters volume production (TT News, Apr. 30, 2026): https://www.ttnews.com/articles/first-tesla-semi-production - Patent records: USPTO Open Data Portal and Google Patents, retrieved Oct. 2, 2026. Credits Photo of Trevor Milton (2017): Hans Andreas Starheim / ZERO, CC BY 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/), via Wikimedia Commons: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Trevor_Milton.jpg Portrait of Nikola Tesla (c. 1890): Napoleon Sarony, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons. Patent drawings: USPTO. Court documents: U.S. federal courts. Music and sound design: original. Not affiliated with Tesla, Inc., Nikola Corporation or Hyroad Energy. Strategy education, not legal advice. ipCapital Group. #Nikola #TrevorMilton #TeslaSemi #DesignPatent #Patents