With explorations into space, a social media platform and other million-dollar ventures to run, you might not expect Elon Musk to get caught up in a legal battle involving fried chicken -- but that's what's happened.
Musk recently won a lengthy legal battle against a restaurant owner in Northern England who wanted to call his fast-food joint "Tesla Chicken & Pizza."
Amanj Ali successfully registered the Tesla name with the UK's Intellectual Property Office in May 2020 without objection from the electric vehicle company. He told BBC News he had been inspired by electrical engineer Nikola Tesla at a young age and wanted to name a business after him.
Everything was fine until November 2021, when Ali received a letter from the Intellectual Property Office. The auto company had requested international protection for trademarks in the UK food and drink category, Business Insider reported.
Ali opposed the request, hoping to safeguard his trademark. But it didn't matter. In September 2022, Tesla applied to invalidate Ali's trademark, arguing that it would take unfair advantage of its established reputation.
After another year of back-and-forth, the Intellectual Property Office sided with the automaker and in November 2023, ordered Ali to pay £4,000 (just over $5,000) to Tesla.
Ali told BBC news he would have appealed the decision, but he has already spent £8,000 (more than $10,000) in legal expenses.
"Imagine, I'm just a small businessman running one chicken shop, and there is a big company coming which is owned by the richest man in the world," he told the outlet.
Tesla has not publicly commented on the dispute.