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Nikola gives up on $2B lawsuit against Tesla’s electric semi design

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Nikola has given up on a lawsuit against Tesla over the design of their electric semi truck. 

The Nikola lawsuit alleged that Tesla’s electric semi truck design infringes on Nikola’s preexisting design patents for an old semi truck prototype that they debuted back in 2016. The patents in question include design features such as a mid-entry door, the shape of the fuselage, and the windshield wrapping around the cab. Nikola was asking Tesla for $2 billion in damages in the lawsuit, reported Electrek.

Nikola’s pursuit of the lawsuit slowed when its founder, Trevor Milton, came under fire for deception involving Nikola’s upcoming semi trucks, including a faked video of its hydrogen truck driving. In July, Milton was charged with three counts of criminal fraud over false claims he made about the company. 

These allegations were the beginning of the end for Nikola’s lawsuit against Tesla, and the company even stopped responding to inquiries from the court. The company then refocused on the case in October, but as of January 2022 Nikola has officially decided to drop the $2 billion lawsuit. The exact reason behind the abandoning of the case is not clear.

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