Tesla is in the news for just about the last reason you’d expect. The electric carmaker, which occasionally releases offbeat, non-automotive products to promote its EVs, has run afoul of a Taiwanese company that believes the American automaker stole its design for a cat bed.
Earlier this month, Tesla started offering two new products to Chinese customers on its website. Among them, an angular cat bed made of cardboard that was intended to promote the Cybertruck, an angular pickup made of stainless steel.
However, Jeff Young, a Taiwanese YouTuber, pointed out on his channel recently that Tesla’s new product bears a striking resemblance to one created by Hulumao, a cat furniture producer based in the same country.
Read: Tesla Sells Cybertruck-Shaped Cat Litter Box And Branding Iron In China
Although Hulumao’s product is advertised as a “lounge chair” for cats, Young described the two products as “more or less 95 percent identical” apart from the Tesla branding. Ironically, the other product Tesla started selling was a branding iron.
While there appear to be some very minor differences, the two products are so similar that it would be hard to distinguish between them were it not for the names on the front. More alarming still, Hulumao’s product was released in 2017, and even won design awards.
While the copycat design isn’t sitting well with some people on ethical grounds, Tesla should be okay legally. Focus Taiwan reports that Hulumao never took out a patent on the design because lawyers advised it that it is hard for small companies to secure intellectual property rights for DIY-style products like this folding cat lounger.
To register its dissatisfaction with the large American company, Hulumao wrote a somewhat sarcastic open letter to its CEO, Elon Musk, on its Instagram page. Written in English, the letter thanks the richest man on earth for “promoting our product with Tesla logo on it.” It adds that it is certain it has “never manufactured this model for Tesla company in China nor licensed the design to you,” and reasons that there must be a misunderstanding in the matter.
Hulumao’s founder, Hsiao Shih, ultimately lamented that “I guess there’s not really much we can do.” However, I would suggest that there is something Tesla can do, and that’s pay Hulumao a royalty fee.