A Black man is accusing billionaire and Tesla CEO Elon Musk of stealing his original concept and trademarking it under the same name, Black Enterprise reports.
Riz Nwosu said that he was inspired by Tesla products and created the Cyberbackpack, a high-tech backpack that has an extra-wide opening and includes a TSA-approved lock, USB charging port, and more gadgets all in one. Nwosu started his journey of developing the bag when Telsa released its Cybertruck vehicle in 2019.
A fan of Telsa, Nwosu presented his newly-developed product to Musk and Cybertruck designer Franz von Holzhausen. However, as he waited for a response for a meeting with the billionaire, Nwosu said that Tesla tried to trademark his Cyberbackpack.
Nwosu noted that he had already bought the website domain for his product and started taking pre-sale orders. Before finding out about Telsa’s theft attempt, Nwosu had also launched the Cyberbackpack on ProductHunt and created a Shopify website to start receiving orders for his product.
This comes as Telsa continues to face numerous racial discrimination cases. According to Black Enterprise, the State of California has threatened to sue the auto company for the countless complaints of racism.
Tesla has denied all allegations centered around racism, but the automaker has been forced to make payouts of over $1 million.
Despite Musk’s alleged shady dealings with Nwosu, the inventor has since been able to secure his own trademark, filing that the Cyberbackpack was first used in January 2021. Nwosu still wants to work with Tesla in the future.