Gary Zhou 
Key Points
- 💼 Tesla is the plaintiff in a new lawsuit against a supercapacitor company, alleging patent infringement.
- 🧪 Tesla acquired Maxwell Technologies in 2019 to advance its battery technology.
- 🔋 Tesla has made significant advancements in battery life, electric vehicle range, and energy storage since the acquisition.
- ⚖️ Tesla is suing Australian company Cap-XX, which builds capacitors for electric vehicles, for allegedly infringing on Maxwell Technologies’ patents.
- 🏛️ The lawsuit was filed in the Eastern District of Texas, while Cap-XX’s previous lawsuit against Maxwell was filed in Delaware.
- 💡 Tesla aims to protect its intellectual property rights through the lawsuit.
- ⚔️ Tesla has previously filed lawsuits against other companies, such as Rivian, for alleged employee poaching and trade secret theft.
Tesla takes on the role of plaintiff in a new lawsuit against a supercapacitor company, alleging infringement on two U.S. patents owned by Maxwell Technologies. Interestingly, the same company being sued by Tesla has an ongoing lawsuit against Maxwell, a subsidiary of the electric vehicle (EV) manufacturer.
Tesla’s acquisition of Maxwell Technologies in 2019 was a strategic move to advance its battery technology. Maxwell had made significant progress in the development of dry electrode technologies, which had captured Tesla’s attention.
Since the acquisition, Tesla has made notable advancements in battery life cycle improvement, electric vehicle range expansion, and energy storage applications.
Now, Tesla is suing Australian company Cap-XX, which also builds capacitors for electric vehicles, for allegedly infringing on two of Maxwell Technologies’ patents. It is a new legal action that comes in response to a lawsuit that Cap-XX filed against Maxwell in 2019 for the same claims.
The lawsuit shows Tesla is making the move to “protect its intellectual property rights” (via Reuters):
“Maxwell has a history of innovation that has resulted in its own patents, now assigned to Tesla, and thus Tesla brings this suit against Cap-XX to protect its intellectual property rights.”
The lawsuit was filed in the Eastern District of Texas, but the 2019 lawsuit that Cap-XX filed against Maxwell was brought about in Delaware.
That case is still ongoing.
Tesla has not been frightened by the idea of bringing lawsuits forward against companies that they believe infringe on their property or even their employees.
The automaker filed a lawsuit against Rivian in July 2020, accusing the EV maker of poaching employees and thieving trade secrets in an “alarming pattern” of behaviors.
