‘I will not be inviting Elon Musk!’ Takeaway boss who wanted to name new fast food shop ‘Tesla Chicken & Pizza’ after his childhood hero slams ‘David versus Goliath’ trademark battle that left him with a £12,000 bill

A takeaway boss who was hit with a £12,000 bill after losing a trademark battle with Elon Musk’s Tesla has been left ‘hurt’ by the battle – after claiming he named his shop after 19th century inventor Nikola Tesla.

Amanj Ali, 41, registered the name Tesla Chicken and Pizza in May 2020 in tribute to the Serbian engineer, whose invention of the Tesla coil in 1891 sought to revolutionize the transmission of high-voltage electricity.

But when bosses at US-based electric car company Tesla Inc – which also takes its name from the electric pioneer and has Musk as CEO – got wind of the trademark registration, they took him to court.

The battle raged over the fact that the car company’s trademark registration in Britain covers ‘anticipatory’ food and drink services – should it ever decide to enter the restaurant business.

Although Mr Ali registered his company before Tesla tried to protect its trademark in Britain – which it did through an application in November 2021 – the Intellectual Property Office (IPO) ruled in favor of the Model 3 makers.

His existing chicken shop, Colorado’s, in Bury, Greater Manchester. He had hoped to open a second store that sold chicken and pizza

Mr Ali (left) says he was inspired from an early age by Nikola Tesla (right), who pioneered early forms of alternating current transmission

Elon Musk (photo) is the CEO of Tesla and joined the company seven months after its founding. Thanks to a later lawsuit, he can call himself a legal co-founder

Tesla argued that this 2018 tweet from Elon Musk indicated the company’s intentions to operate food and beverage businesses in the United Kingdom.

Mr Ali, whose other store in Bury, Greater Manchester is called Colorado’s, says he is disappointed to have been hit with a £12,000 legal bill – and has vowed never to invite Tesla boss Musk to his house for dinner.

He said: ‘I was so disappointed after all this. All I can say is that it’s only because a big company (acquired) a small company – nothing else.

“When I lost it, I was in a bit of pain, but I just tried to keep a secret and not tell anyone.

“It took me eighteen months to fight them. Sometimes I couldn’t sleep well, and at that time I found it quite difficult.’

Of Musk, he added: ‘If you asked me, ‘Would you invite him,’ I would say ‘no.’

The hard-working restaurateur said he originally applied for his trade mark as he hoped to open a new takeaway restaurant in the Greater Manchester area.

He already had a chicken shop called Colorado’s, but felt his new location needed a new name because it would have a different identity and sell both pizza and chicken.

Mr Ali claims he stumbled upon ‘Tesla Chicken & Pizza’ because the famous inventor left a mark on him when he was a child.

And he planned to install a mural in his new restaurant in honor of the pioneer, who pioneered modern alternating current systems in electricity.

Coincidentally, Nikola Tesla’s most famous inventing laboratory, the Tesla Experimental Station, was located in Colorado Springs, Colorado, USA.

Mr Ali said: ‘When I was young, I read about him… I don’t know if it’s true or not, but some people claim that he invented many things.

‘We only make chicken for my Colorado’s brand, but with Tesla Chicken & Pizza I also wanted to make pizza.

“And we planned that when we open the restaurant, we will have a wall with a picture of Nikola Tesla.”

His trademark was successfully registered in ‘class 43’ for food and beverage establishments, but his plans for a new restaurant later stalled due to the pandemic.

And in November 2021, he received emails from the IPO stating that another party had applied to trademark “Tesla” in the same section.

Stunned, Mr Ali said he had no idea electric car maker Tesla was behind the application until he researched it on the internet.

Mr Ali says he doesn’t have time to resent Tesla over the legal action, but says Elon Musk won’t be welcome in his chicken shop anytime soon

The proposed sign for Tesla Chicken & Pizza (left) and Tesla Inc – can you spot the difference?

Nikola Tesla demonstrating a ‘magnifying transmitter’, a type of Tesla coil, in his laboratory in Colorado Springs, USA in 1899. The photo was taken with a clever multiple exposure, giving the impression that Tesla was sitting between arcs of electricity.

Musk had tweeted that he might roll out a 1950s diner-style dining service at Tesla Superchargers (Photo: A Supercharger station in Exeter)

He said: ‘When we Googled that address, it was the headquarters of Tesla Motors.

“I’m a micro-businessman being confronted by one of the richest man’s companies, (so) I found a lawyer and called him.”

Working with his lawyer, he said Tesla representatives offered him £750 to sell the rights to his trademark to them in May 2022.

But he was baffled by this proposal and claims he subsequently joked with his legal team that just ‘£750,000’ would be enough to make him opt out.

Mr Ali said his lawyer then actually passed this on to Tesla’s representatives, and they later successfully used it to argue that he had acted in bad faith.

He continued: “At the time they made me laugh a bit and I was angry. I quickly replied to my lawyer, “Tell them my client will accept your offer with a ‘k’ next to it.”

‘But my lawyer replied: ‘He won’t accept the £750, he will accept £750,000 instead.’ Tesla’s lawyer used that against me.”

Court documents also showed how Tesla’s lawyers argued that a tweet from Elon Musk in January 2018 made clear his ambitions to launch a restaurant franchise under the company’s name.

It read: “I’m going to put an old-fashioned drive-in, roller skating, and rock restaurant at one of the new Tesla Supercharger locations in LA.”

They also suggested that Mr Ali was “familiar with the trademark system” and knew of Musk’s vast $206 billion fortune thanks to his social media posts.

But after the case, he said many people were aware of Musk’s wealth and wondered if the tweet was a legitimate business proposition since it had not yet materialized.

Furious, he said, “I said, ‘I haven’t opened my restaurant yet, but haven’t you?'”

As part of the IPO ruling at the end of November last year, he was forced to pay Tesla £4,000, while also paying £8,000 in lawyers’ fees.

But despite the crushing defeat, he holds no grudge against the richest man in the world.

Mr Ali added: “I am the type of person that I don’t hate anyone. I’m too busy hating people.’

Tesla was founded in July 2003 by engineers Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning, before Musk joined in February 2004 after providing $7.5 million in funding after selling his shares in payments company Paypal.

A lawsuit settled in 2009 between Eberhard, Tarpenning, Musk and two other early employees means that all five can legally call themselves co-founders of the company.

Tesla has been contacted for comment.