It’s been a turbulent year for Elon Musk and his companies. Tesla’s CEO has received significant backlash due to his actions with the government initiative DOGE. This is in addition to Tesla’s roller-coaster stock performance and the failure of the Cybertruck. Now, the government has thrown in a new wrench with the denial of the Robotaxi trademark.

To be clear, this denial may be overturned. However, it doesn’t seem likely without direct intervention from the Trump Administration.

Robotaxi Trademark Encounters Issues

Mere weeks before the rollout of Tesla’s Robotaxi, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) issued a non-final office action to Tesla regarding its trademark application for the term “Robotaxi.” This action does not state that the agency has denied the filing outright. However, it does mean the application is not currently approved.

Put simply, there are problems with Musk’s attempt to secure a trademark over the term “Robotaxi.” Specifically speaking, the USPTO says the Robotaxi trademark is generic. A generic trademark cannot receive federal registration. This is because the term is not distinctive enough, and in reality, it’s currently in use by other brands.

A quick trademark search shows that there’s at least one other company vying for the trademark. However, their filing is likely to encounter the same issues as those faced by Tesla. The term is just a generic version of “robotic taxi,” so unless one company can show that consumers equate their brand to the term, the outlook doesn’t look good.

Not the First Intellectual Property Issue Encountered

Difficulties with the Robotaxi trademark filing are not the first issues Musk encountered with his upcoming autonomous taxi company. He also filed to trademark the term “Cybercab.” Tesla eventually ended its attempt to secure rights to the term. This was due to another non-final office action issued by the USPTO.

Unlike the reason for denial listed for Robotaxi, the office action cited a likelihood of confusion as a reason for refusal. This means consumers would likely confuse Tesla’s Cybercab with a pre-existing trademark. In this case, another company sought registration of “Cyber” in a similar consumer space. They did this before Tesla submitted its filing.

Ironically, one pre-existing application is from a company that makes accessories for Tesla’s Cybertruck. With the Cybercab application being suspended and the Robotaxi trademark facing an uncertain future, it’s unknown what Musk’s next move will be.

What’s Next for Tesla?

When it comes to the attempt to trademark Cybercab, it’s fairly clear what happens next. Since there’s already an existing application from another company, it’s likely that any use of the term by Tesla will constitute trademark infringement. This is particularly true if the USPTO ends up granting registration to the other company.

However, the path ahead for the Robotaxi trademark is not as clear. Musk does have three months from receiving the office action to respond. However unlikely, it is possible that his company could argue that Tesla’s use of “Robotaxi” is distinctive in the minds of consumers. With the generic nature of the term, however, this seems improbable.

That said, there’s nothing to stop Musk from using the brand name “Robotaxi” even if the USPTO decides it’s generic. He simply wouldn’t have trademark rights over the term. The same thing happened when he tried to trademark “X” as the Twitter replacement. Donald Trump’s firing of the head of the U.S. Copyright Office also suggests that he could intervene on Musk’s behalf.

As of right now, there are simply too many variables in play to predict the future of Tesla’s Robotaxi trademark. Still, there’s no doubt the company could use some good news.