The Financial Times has reported that Nanjing’s decision to go ahead and make cars based on MG Rover technology in China may spark a legal battle with Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp. (SAIC).
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SAIC purchased the rights to the car’s design before Rover collapsed and will build almost identical Rover 75 saloons. It has threatened legal action against Nanjing if it starts production, but can do nothing until an infringement on its rights is actually made.
Nanjing won central government approval to build the cars earlier this week. SAIC gained its approval several weeks ago. The government would, however, prefer to try to avoid a high profile legal battle between two domestic companies, according to the newspaper.
Nanjing has said that it has the rights to 98% of Rover and MG models that shared common designs, having paid £53m ($91m) for the assets of Rover. SAIC claims that Nanjing has only bought 2% of the designs that were exclusive to MG.
