Lucid In Trademark Spat With Google-Backed Startup For SUV - Lucid Gr (NASDAQ:LCID)

Electric vehicle (EV) company Lucid Group Inc LCID unveiled its highly anticipated Gravity SUV back in November 2023.

The vehicle and company now find themselves in a trademark battle.

What Happened: It has been a rough couple of years for Lucid Group as its stock has fallen and production and delivery estimates have come down for the company. While analysts continue to praise the company's technology, Lucid could be in for another setback.

Lucid's Gravity SUV faces a trademark challenge from EV charging company Gravity Technologies, which counts Alphabet Inc GOOGGOOGL among its backers.

According to a report from TechCrunch, Gravity filed a "petition for cancellation" against Lucid Motors with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in December. The company has asked for Lucid's vehicle trademark to be revoked.

Gravity cites the potential of consumers being confused by the name as the reason for the petition. The company launched fast-charging stations for EV in New York City recently. Gravity also operated a fleet of electric taxis in 2021 in New York City.

"We feel very, very confident about it," Gravity Technologies CEO Moshe Cohen told TechCrunch of the trademark petition.

Gravity's trademark to the word came in 2017 and was related to "transportation services, namely, hired car transport; passenger transport; taxi and limousine transport." The trademark also applied to "computer software and downloadable software."

Lucid has fought back and said that Gravity does not operate its electric taxi fleet anymore.

"(Lucid) believes that it is being and will continue to be damaged by (Gravity Inc's) registration," Lucid said.

Lucid said Gravity should give up its trademark.

A report from TechCrunch said Gravity operates at least one taxi still.

Why It's Important: The trademark challenge comes as the Gravity is expected to enter production in late 2024 and is a highly anticipated vehicle that could help Lucid during its recent struggles.

While Lucid is against the petition and believes it will win, the company did warn investors in a recent annual filing saying that challenges could be expensive and affect its trademarks.

Lucid stock is down over 60% in the last year. The company recently reported quarterly financial results and shared that it expects to produce 9,000 vehicles in 2024.

The vehicle production figure is significantly down from original estimates when Lucid went public.

LCID Price Action: Lucid shares trade at $3.01 versus a 52-week trading range of $2.54 to $8.87.

Image: Shutterstock

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