Jaguar Land Rover ordered to destroy seized BYD files - report
Following the dramatic news of Jaguar Land Rover’s bailiffs raiding BYD’s offices, the British carmaker has reportedly been ordered to destroy everything it seized.
Earlier this week, The Times newspaper reported Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) had appointed bailiffs to raid the Dutch offices of BYD, on suspicion that the Chinese marque had copied the design of the Defender SUV.
The raid, which reportedly occurred in August, centred around JLR’s claims that the BYD Ti7 SUV had benefited from alleged reverse engineering of the technology in the Land Rover Defender.
Despite BYD claiming it had attempted to cooperate with JLR’s requests for information, the bailiffs were able to seize digital records from BYD’s Schiedam and Hoofddorp offices, with a preliminary ruling scheduled to take place earlier this week.
As now reported by Dutch publication Autoweek, the District Court of The Hague has ordered JLR to destroy the files it seized from BYD – which have been in the control of an independent third party – as the documents don’t demonstrate the copycat claims.
According to the publication, the court argued the documents can also not be used by JLR to pursue damages caused by BYD, as the Ti7 has not yet been sold in the European Union. JLR had demanded BYD pay €500,000 (AU$812,000) in penalties.
Additional reporting by Niuews.NL shows JLR has initiated separate proceedings over the European Union design rights of the Land Rover Defender.
While the design of the two SUVs is similar, they differ greatly in their powertrains.
The Land Rover Defender is offered with a wide range of four- to eight-cylinder petrol and diesel engines, as well as a plug-in hybrid version. All Defenders are all-wheel drive.
Meanwhile, the BYD Ti7 is available as a plug-in hybrid (powered by a turbocharged 1.5-litre four-cylinder petrol engine) with either front- or all-wheel drive, or as a rear- and all-wheel drive electric vehicle.
The BYD Ti7 is 4999mm long, 1995mm wide, 1865mm tall, and rides on a 2920mm wheelbase, slotting it in between the sizes of the Defender 110 and 130.
Ironically, the timing of the European scandal surrounding the BYD Ti7 comes amid it being approved for Australian road use, previewing a potential local launch.
