Land Rover Wins Evoque Lawsuit: Landwind Must Immediately Stop Producing and Selling X7

Land Rover

Recently, Beijing Chaoyang District Court decided that the Landwind X7 manufactured by Jiangling Motors Company had infringed on five features which were copied directly from the Evoque, causing confusion among consumers and that Jiangling Motors Company must immediately cease all production of X7.

The court found the two SUVs have a similar shape, roof, windows, side panelling and tail lights while the five unique features originally belonged to the Evoque by comparison. Therefore, the court ruled that Jiangling Motors Company must immediately stop making, selling and marketing the Landwind X7 and that compensation must be paid, though the specific amount remained unknown to the public.

It marks the victory of Jaguar Land Rover and the end of a long-running court battle. The case, meanwhile, will become a classic one in the “copycat” history of China’s self-owned automakers, warning self-owned brands of  where copycats would end up to.

The lawsuit consists of two parts. One is the well-known patent invalidating affair in which case the court has already decided on patent invalidation of both Range Rover Evoque and Landwind X7 in June, 2016. The other is about the act of plagiarism. In June, 2016, Land Rover sued Landwind for IP infringement and unfair competition it might have committed.

Intellectual Property involves appearance patent, copyright and so on. Landwind’s infringement is for sure. As for unfair competition, although price can’t define the positioning of a brand, selling identical products with lower prices may contributed to widespread confusion.

The controversial Landwind X7 entered the market on August 8th, 2015. The car was regarded as a copy of Range Rover Evoque in terms of shape and also hood badge. As early as 2006, two years after the founding of Land Wind co-funded by Chang’an Automobile Corporation and Jiangling Motors Company , Jaguar Land Rover sued Landwind for copying its English trademark, for LAND WIND and LAND ROVER look much alike when Landwind started its market in the EU. However, Landwind eventually succeeded in obtaining the registered trademark of “LAND WIND” in the EU.

April 28, 2019

Source: zscqj.com/niuche.com

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