According to Die Welt, a Chinese court has ruled that a local busmaker must to pay MAN AG some EUR2.5m in compensation, after being found guilty of copying the design of its Starliner luxury bus.
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Following a drawn-out trial, the First Intermediate Court of Beijing ordered Zonda, its unit Zhongwei, and a dealer to pay off Neoplan, the commercial-vehicle arm of MAN AG, for stealing its bus design and thus violating intellectual property laws.
Intellectual property rights (IPR) remains a live issue for foreign vehicle makers in China, as some domestic makers prefer to reverse engineer a foreign make’s model rather than develop their own.
Western vehicle makers are frequently caught in a dilemma: start legal proceedings in China or damage relations with a Chinese partner. The copied models are normally only sold in China where customers view them as attractive, as they are based on proven international designs but much cheaper.
