Tesla CEO and father of 14 Elon Musk is known for many things, but he is not known to be a man of his word. We’ve called out his litany of broken and overstated promises on several occasions, but one of the biggest recent examples of this seemingly chronic behavior led to Tesla shareholders suing Musk over his exaggerated claims about the autonomous Cybercab, nee Robotaxi. We knew Musk’s rushed Robotaxi was announced before a trademark was filed on the name and the U.S. Patents and Trademarks Office (USPTO) denied Tesla’s application to trademark either “Robotaxi” or “Cybercab,” but now our friends at Electrek found that Tesla’s application to trademark “Cybercab” has officially been suspended as of Nov. 14, 2025.
The USPTO denied Tesla’s trademark application for the name “Robotaxi” because it was deemed too general, and we knew trademarking the name “Cybercab” was giving Tesla trouble as well, but now we know that’s because another company requested to trademark the name before Tesla filed its trademark application.
It appears the company that beat Tesla’s trademark application is what’s called a squatter
Electrek said the two main hurdles blocking Tesla from owning the name “Cybercab” are a likelihood of confusion with an existing registration, and a pending priority application. As it turns out, Musk unveiled the Cybercab at the robotaxi event on Oct. 10, 2024, but didn’t file a trademark application for the name until November of that year, and in the interim, a company called Unibev filed an application for the name “Cybercab” in the vehicle category on Oct. 28, 2024. Unibev’s application takes precedence over Tesla’s since it was filed first.
Unibev is a French beverage company that primarily sells hard seltzers, which is why it appears to be a squatter situation. It also has three trademarks for “Teslaquila,” which is a name that Tesla tried to use when it first launched its branded tequila, so I respect its hustle in giving Elon a headache. Tesla’s biggest misstep in filing the “Cybercab” trademark application was that it announced the name before filing the paperwork. Better luck next time, Elon.
