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Jaguar Land Rover has suffered a setback in its lawsuit against a Chinese car manufacturer that it says infringed a design patent for its Range Rover Evoque crossover.
The lawsuit, which JLR has filed against Jiangling Motors, claims that the Chinese company’s Landwind X7 copied the design of its popular Evoque and that the Chinese company’s behaviour amounted to unfair competition.
However, China’s state intellectual property office has revoked both JLR’s patent for its Evoque as well as that for Jiangling’s Landwind X7 SUV, according to statements from the patent re-examination board posted earlier this month on its website.
JLR said: “We have filed new copyright and unfair-competition complaints in China against Jiangling Motors,” but refused to comment further.
Tony Hague, managing director of PP Control and Automation, said the case is a warning to machinery builders that they need to protect themselves against the growing threat of the Far East replica. “Copying some of the basic machinery processes is helping rivals in Asia deliver replica OEM machinery – in a wide range of markets – that deliver a level of performance that is typically less effective than the European-manufactured models.”
He added: “However, they are offering these machines at a significantly lower cost, resulting in many of the end users seriously considering their purchasing options. The return on investment is still hugely important, but the gap is shortening and UK manufacturers need to take this into consideration. And the response needs to be quick.
“Competing with Far East manufacturers of machinery is not impossible – we just need to be clever about our strengths and then invest heavily in marketing what makes us better – especially as regards long-term return on investment.”
Xu Haidong, assistant secretary-general of the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, recently said that the government-backed industry group was closely watching the development of the JLR lawsuit.
“In the past, foreign brands didn’t mind plagiarism because they thought Chinese brands were too small to pose a threat. The JLR case indicates that they might have felt the rise of Chinese brands,” he said.
JLR first raised complaints about the styling of the Landwind X7 in 2014, when the vehicle was launched at the Guangzhou motor show. The SUV is available for less than half of the cost of JLR’s Evoque in China.