Tesla has quietly changed its Model 3 logo from three bars to the number 3. The fact that Adidas filed a challenge against Tesla for creating a logo that’s similar to Adidas’ iconic stripes last Friday may have something to do with it.
Both logos have three bars, although the Adidas logo forms a triangle and Tesla’s logo is just three horizontal lines. Maybe if you tilt your head and look at Tesla’s logos from an angle they might look similar? It might be a stretch, but lawyers for the athletics giant contended the triple stripes in both logos were “likely to cause confusion” and both logos are “virtually identical.”
As proof of its ownership of the Design Mark, Adidas include illustrations of its iconic tracksuit and the three-stripe on its similarly familiar blue shoe boxes, its shoes and sandals. The 111 pages of court documents show that the Germany-based athletics company takes its logo ownserhip very seriously. The robust challenge to Tesla’s logo seems like it worked.
An illustration of the athleisure staple, the Adidas slip-on "adi-slide" sandal, was included in the court filing by Adidas against Tesla.
You’re probably not going to walk into an Adidas store and expect to buy an electric car, but Adidas says it filed the notice because Tesla plans to put the logo on clothing and other products.
It’s worth noting that the “E” in the Tesla logo is also three horizontal stripes and very similar the now-former Model 3 logo.
Adidas filed a challenge against Tesla to prevent it from registering its Model 3 logo.
“The renown of the Adidas 3-Stripes Mark has been widely recognized in unsalted media coverage,” the notice reads. “…Adidas has consistently promoted three stripes as its trademark.”
Anyway, Tesla probably didn’t want to deal with this, so it withdrew its application for a three-bar logo on Tuesday. That being said, Tesla maintains that it was a Tesla branding decision and not a response to Adidas’ notice of opposition.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk also confirmed the Model 3 logo would be numeric again in a thread about the legal system.
Here’s the Model 3 logo as it appears on the Tesla website now:
