MAN has filed an intellectual property lawsuit in Beijing against a Chinese company that it says has copied the design of one its buses.
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The online edition of Spiegel said that MAN and its subsidiary, Neoplan, have claimed that the Chinese vehicle group, Zonda, has copied the Neoplan tourist bus, the Starliner, and is selling it in China under the model name ‘A9’.
Several hundred of these buses have already been sold.
Franz Neundlinger, vice president of MAN China, told Spiegel that it is an absolutely clear-cut case of patent abuse.
Copying existing successful vehicle designs is not uncommon in China, and several carmakers have taken Chinese companies to court with little success. In 2004 Honda filed a lawsuit against China’s Hebei Shuanghuan Auto Co. alleging that its RABO S-RV model is a copy of Honda’s CR-V small SUV.
In November 2003 Toyota lost a trademark infringement case against domestic carmaker Geely Group while GM has complained that the QQ model produced by Chery Automobile closely resembles the Daewoo Matiz, which is produced in China at SAIC-GM-Wuling and sold as the Chevrolet Spark.
