Audi loses EV name lawsuit against Nio in Europe

Following a legal win by Audi in Munich over Chinese automaker Nio’s use of ES6, ES7, and ES8 nameplates for being too similar to established model names like the S6 and S8, the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) ruled Nio’s naming convention doesn’t constitute a likelihood of confusion.

The initial lawsuit went to Munich’s regional First Chamber for Commercial Matters, but according to CnEVpost, the EUIPO outranks Munich and Nio’s ES8 and ES6 trademarks will remain valid in the EU if Audi can’t overturn the ruling, CarBuzz reports.

CarBuzz says the municipal Munich court believed consumers could assume ES6 and ES8 are the electric versions of the S6 and S8, while the European court doesn’t think Nio’s model names infringe on Audi’s S6 and S8 trademarks.

Nio did rename its first model EL7 (pictured) just before launching it in Europe, CarBuzz suggesting the Chinese manufacturer probably decided it was too much hassle and costs too much time and money to defend the naming convention versus the cost of changing it before launch.