Elon settles mug row with potter

ELON Musk has reached an agreement with a US potter who accused him of using his farting unicorn design on Tesla products without permission.

Tom Edwards, of Evergreen, Colorado, wrote on his website on Friday that the issue had been resolved “in a way that everyone feels good about!” while Musk tweeted a screenshot of the same statement.

The story began last year after the billionaire founder of the electric car firm and SpaceX tweeted a picture of Edwards’s colourful mug, which depicts a crudely drawn unicorn against a rainbow, with smiley-face emojis in the background.

The mythical creature is seen passing wind into a funnel that is connected to a car. “Electric cars are good for the environment because electricity comes from magic,” reads the back.

Musk called it “maybe my favourite mug ever” and the publicity led to a slight bump in sales for Edwards, who was happy that the South African-born entrepreneur, often hailed as a leading tech innovator and visionary, was a fan of his work.

But Edwards’s admiration turned to disappointment when he found out the image had made its way into Tesla’s promotional materials and even its operating system, for which he had not received compensation.

Musk initially credited the work to another artist and described the row as “kinda lame,” adding that Edwards should be happy it had boosted his mug sales.