Firms to pay 21m yuan for copying bus design
A mainland court has ordered three Chinese firms to pay a German bus maker more than 20 million yuan (HK$22.69 million) for design violations, one of the largest awards to a foreign company under intellectual property laws.
The Beijing court ordered the firms to pay MAN Group's Neoplan Bus 20 million yuan in damages plus 1.16 million yuan in costs, said mainland judicial website Chinacourt.org.
When Neoplan filed the lawsuit seeking 40 million yuan of damages against the firms in 2006, it was touted as one of the country's 10 landmark court cases of that year, given the large amount sought.
It was also the first lawsuit brought by a foreign firm for violation of intellectual property rights involving bus design since China joined the World Trade Organisation in 2001.
The First Intermediate People's Court of Beijing found mainland bus maker Zhongwei Passenger Bus, its parent Zonda Group, and a Beijing vehicle sales firm guilty of copying the design of Neoplan's Starliner model, said Chinacourt. The court ordered an immediate halt to production and sales of the buses.
The ruling is expected to strengthen foreign companies' faith in the mainland legal system.
The court ruled last week that Zhongwei's Zonda A9 bus was a copy of the Neoplan Starliner and infringed on the Neoplan design, said Urs Vollrath, the managing director of MAN Truck & Bus China.
Both Neoplan and MAN Truck & Bus China belong to MAN Group.
'The verdict shows our faith in the Chinese legal system was warranted and [intellectual property rights are] taken seriously in China. The Starliner design is protected in China as a registered design,' said Mr Vollrath.
Zonda would appeal the ruling to a higher court in about 15 days, said a company spokesman, who declined to name the higher court. 'We think this verdict is unfair.'
Lawyers said the 21.16 million yuan award was large by the standards of payments to foreign firms in Chinese intellectual property cases.
'It's one of the larger awards given to a foreign firm in a Chinese [intellectual property rights] judgment, but relative to the damages, it's a small amount. When Chinese courts rule in favour of foreign firms, the awards tend to be low, disproportionate to the damages,' said an Australian lawyer based in Shanghai.
In contrast, when Chinese firm Chint Group won an intellectual property rights lawsuit against French firm Schneider Electric in 2007, the court ordered Schneider to pay Clint 334.8 million yuan.
'Foreign intellectual property owners are more willing to test their cases in Chinese courts in recent years, as the Chinese judicial system is more transparent and sophisticated. Many had good success with their cases, and this positive trend augurs well for China's [intellectual property] and legal development,' said Tan Loke-Khoon, a partner at Baker & McKenzie, Hong Kong and China, who was not involved in this case.
Test case
Ruling expected to boost foreign firms' faith in mainland legal system
The amount of damages sought when the suit was filed in 2006, in yuan: yuan 40m
