Teslaquila heads for showdown
Industry group opposes Tesla CE’s bid to trademark the alcoholic drink
Tesla co-founder Elon Musk and Mexico’s tequila producers could be headed for a collision after the agave-based drink’s industry group opposed the flamboyant billionaire’s efforts to trademark an alcoholic drink dubbed Teslaquila.
Tesla co-founder Elon Musk and Mexico’s tequila producers could be headed for a collision after the agave-based drink’s industry group opposed the flamboyant billionaire’s efforts to trademark an alcoholic drink dubbed Teslaquila.
One of the world’s richest people and CE of Tesla, Musk is known for ambitious and cutting-edge projects ranging from vehicle electrification and rocket building to high-speed transit tunnels. Now it seems Musk could be setting his sights on disrupting the multibilliondollar tequila industry.
On October 12, he tweeted “Teslaquila coming soon” and an accompanying “visual approximation” of a label with the Tesla logo and a caption that stated “100 percent Puro de Agave”.
Not so fast, said Mexico’s Tequila Regulatory Council. It said the “name Teslaquila evokes the word tequila … [and] tequila is a protected word”.
The council keeps tabs on producers to make sure they stick to strict denomination of origin rules, which dictate the spirit must be made in the states of Guanajuato, Jalisco, Michoacan, Nayarit or Tamaulipas, among other requirements.
According to the US Patent and Trademark Office website, Tesla has filed an application to trademark “Teslaquila” as a “distilled agave liquor” and “distilled blue agave liquor”. Similar applications have been filed in Mexico, the EU and Jamaica.
“If it wants to make Teslaquila viable as a tequila it would have to associate itself with an authorised tequila producer, comply with certain standards and request authorisation from Mexico’s Industrial Property Institute,” said the council.
“Otherwise it would be making unauthorised use of the denomination of origin for tequila.” The council said the name Teslaquila could make consumers confuse the drink with tequila.
Tesla did not respond to requests for comment.
Other high-profile celebrities have cashed in on tequila’s newfound international appeal, as the spirit moves into the ranks of top-shelf liquors and sheds its image as a fiery booze drunk by desperadoes and frat boys.
In 2017, Diageo bought actor George Clooney’s high-end tequila brand Casamigos for up to $1bn. Other recent deals include Bacardi’s January buying of fine tequila maker Patron Spirits International for $5.1bn. After years of speculation, Mexico’s Beckmann family launched an initial public offering of Jose Cuervo in 2017, raising more than $900m.