More on the ongoing saga of JLR’s lawsuit against Chinese automaker Jiangling Motors, for its alleged copying of the Range Rover Evoque.
Jiangling sent its oddly-named Land Wind X7 to market last year, and it was clearly a copy of the Evoque, with a body that was identical in almost every respect.
It seemed like a clear path to victory in what is an obvious case or intellectual property theft. However, Chinese officials have now thrown a wrench into the works by revoking JLR’s patent for the Evoque.
The revocation was issued under the pretense that the “design had been displayed or published elsewhere before a patent application was filed.” China’s patent examiners also revoked the patent for the Land Wind, based on it’s obvious resemblance to the Evoque.
JLR’s lawyers say they are continuing with new legal proceedings based on copyright infringement and unfair competition.
"It's still the same situation," said a JLR spokesperson. “The action on copyright and unfair competition are separate from the patent proceedings.”
JLR could also argue that regardless of patents, Evoque's design is automatically protected under copyright law, just as any other creative work would be.
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