Audi's opposition has been rejected and Nio has been allowed to move forward with the registration of the ES series of trademarks in Australia.
Nio (NYSE: NIO) has scored a victory in Australia in its dispute with Audi over the "ES" trademarks, as the battle, which began three years ago, spreads to more territories.
In response to Audi's opposition to Nio's application to register the ES6, ES7 and ES8 trademarks in Australia, the Australian intellectual property authorities decided on November 28 in favor of Nio's core claims, Sina Tech said in a report last night citing a document.
Audi's opposition request was rejected and Nio was allowed to move forward with its application to register the trademarks in Australia, the report noted.
The dispute began three years ago, in October 2021, when Audi claimed that the Nio ES6 and ES8 naming infringed on Audi's trademark rights for the S6 and S8, and sued the Chinese electric vehicle (EV) maker in Munich, Germany, Sina Tech's report noted.
In January 2023, Audi won a first-instance judgment at the Munich district court, where Nio was accused of naming its models too similarly to Audi's.
In April of this year, Munich's higher regional court ruled in a second-instance judgment that Nio's naming of two models infringed on Audi's trademark rights, the report noted.
The Nio brand currently delivers eight models in China -- ES8, ES7, ES6, EC7, EC6, ET7, ET5, ET5 Touring. The ET9, which was unveiled last December, is expected to begin deliveries in the first quarter of 2025.
As a result of the dispute, Nio has rebranded its ES range of models in Europe as the EL range -- for example, the ES8 has been rebranded as the EL8, the ES7 as the EL7 and the ES6 as the EL6.
The practice has been carried over to other markets, including the UAE, as the company expands its overseas operations beyond Europe this year.
In Australia, Audi argued that Nio's ES6, ES7, and ES8 trademarks are too similar to Audi's existing S6, S7, and S8 trademarks, with the E standing for Electric only, Sina Tech's report noted.
Audi claimed that the main part of Nio's trademarks remain S6, S7, S8, which could lead consumers to confuse them with Audi's models.
Nio, on the other hand, asserted that the presence of E as an initial creates a clear distinction from Audi's S6, S7, and S8, and that E has diverse meanings in automobile naming, denoting not only electric.
Nio's marks as a whole present different visual and aural differences that do not lead to consumer confusion, the Chinese EV maker claimed.
The Australian intellectual property authorities ultimately found that Audi's and Nio's marks were significantly different and not substantially similar, the report noted.
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