Tesla and SpaceX are asking a federal judge to rule that their planned Terafab chip factory does not infringe a small Illinois company\u2019s trademark, a request that arrives only after months of quiet negotiation broke down this summer.\n<\/p>\n
The dispute traces to May 18, when Tesla filed three U.S. trademark applications for \u201cTerafab\u201d and \u201cTesla Terafab,\u201d covering semiconductor chips and related chip making services. TERA-print LLC, a nanotechnology company that has held a federal trademark for \u201cTera-Fab\u201d since 2021, responded five days later with a cease and desist letter. According to the lawsuit, first reported by Reuters<\/a>, TERA-print argued that Tesla and SpaceX\u2019s use of \u201cTerafab\u201d would confuse consumers familiar with its own trademark, which covers a desktop photolithography printer sold to researchers for sensor and bioengineering work.\n<\/p>\n What stands out in the filing is the timing of TERA-print\u2019s own paperwork. One day before sending that cease and desist letter, on May 22, TERA-print applied to expand its existing registration to cover semiconductor materials, silicon chips, nanoelectronic devices and AI design services, categories it had not previously claimed. Tesla and SpaceX call that filing opportunistic in their complaint, noting it arrived two months after Tesla\u2019s public Terafab announcement<\/a> and just days after Tesla\u2019s own trademark applications went in.\n<\/p>\n Elon Musk launches TERAFAB: The $25B Tesla-SpaceXAI chip factory that will rewire the AI industry<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n By June 10, TERA-print was threatening to sue for federal trademark infringement, false designation of origin and unfair competition, the complaint states. Rather than wait to be sued, Tesla, SpaceX and SpaceXAI met with TERA-print six separate times between June and August trying to resolve the dispute directly. Those talks collapsed, and the companies filed for declaratory judgment this week in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, asking a judge to find that \u201cTerafab\u201d does not infringe TERA-print\u2019s mark before TERA-print can file a claim of its own.\n<\/p>\n TERA-print isn\u2019t backing down. The company told PCMag<\/a> it discussed a settlement with Tesla as recently as September 2 and feels misled by what it called Tesla\u2019s professed interest in settling. Its CTO, Andrey Ivankin, said TERA-print holds a Defense Department contract to fabricate semiconductors and partially owns Mattiq Inc., an AI company built on TERA-print\u2019s products, and that the company will vigorously defend its rights.<\/p>\n Tesla and SpaceX argue the overlap is superficial. Terafab is planned as a $16.8 billion complex spanning roughly 100 million square feet at the Grimes County site SpaceX confirmed last month<\/a>, built to produce chips for Optimus robots, Tesla\u2019s AI computing needs and SpaceX\u2019s orbital data center ambitions, a scale and purpose the companies say no reasonable consumer would confuse with a tabletop lab printer. TERA-print\u2019s product line has stayed focused on lithography tools for biological and sensor research since it registered its mark in 2021.\n<\/p>\n