There was just one snag. Tatra took on Porsche alleging patent infringements — specifically the air-cooled, rear mounted engine — in 1938, two years after Tatra launched its Beetle look-alike 97 model, and could have collected a small fortune but the legal action dissolved when nazi Germany invaded and annexed Czechoslovakia in March 1939.
History may debate the legal action as it was proved that the Porsche development was quite separate to that of Tatra and the case could have been considered lightweight given air cooling and rear-mounted engines were also used by other companies.
But the previous owners of Tatra, the German Ringhoffer family, persisted and
Volkswagen in 1961 paid the family one-million Deutschmarks (equivalent today of $3.4 million) under a confidential agreement. The money never went to benefit Tatra or the communist rulers of Czechoslovakia who had taken control of the country in 1948.