Tesla is involved in a new lawsuit, but this time as the plaintiff against a supercapacitor company, as the automaker claims it infringed on two U.S. patents owned by Maxwell Technologies. The same company Tesla is suing has a lawsuit open against Maxwell, which is a subsidiary of the EV maker.
Tesla’s acquisition of Maxwell Technologies in 2019 was a move the automaker made to move its battery technology forward. Maxwell had done plenty of work developing dry electrode technologies that had caught Tesla’s attention.
In the years since the acquisition, Tesla has made plenty of strides, especially in battery life cycle advancement, electric vehicle range, and even energy storage applications.
Now, Tesla is suing Australian company Cap-XX, which also builds capacitors for electric vehicles, for allegedly infringing on two of Maxwell Technologies’ patents. It is a new legal action that comes in response to a lawsuit that Cap-XX filed against Maxwell in 2019 for the same claims.
The lawsuit shows Tesla is making the move to “protect its intellectual property rights” (via Reuters):
“Maxwell has a history of innovation that has resulted in its own patents, now assigned to Tesla, and thus Tesla brings this suit against Cap-XX to protect its intellectual property rights.”
The lawsuit was filed in the Eastern District of Texas, but the 2019 lawsuit that Cap-XX filed against Maxwell was brought about in Delaware.
That case is still ongoing.
Tesla has not been frightened by the idea of bringing lawsuits forward against companies that they believe infringe on their property or even their employees.
The automaker filed a lawsuit against Rivian in July 2020, accusing the EV maker of poaching employees and thieving trade secrets in an “alarming pattern” of behaviors.
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