Toyota Motor lost a lawsuit against China's Geely Group after an 11-month battle that marked the first attempt by an overseas car maker to use courts to stop domestic rivals copying designs and logos.
Toyota sued Geely in December last year for 14 million yuan (about R11 million), claiming it used a logo on the bonnet, hub cabs, steering column and boot of its Merrie cars that resembled Toyota's T marque.
A Toyota spokesperson said the company regretted the ruling by the Beijing court. . . .
"[T]his is not good for the protection of intellectual property rights in China," said Katsumi Nakamura, the president of Dongfeng Motor Company, Nissan's venture in China.
Wang Zhong, a lawyer for Geely, described the verdict as "fair" and "objective".
I once briefed an American judge on a motion to stay a case and refer it to arbitration in China. The judge's attitude was: "We have no way of knowing what the hell might happen over there." The motion was denied. It will be interesting to watch as China's legal system increasingly has to deal with international business disputes.
The immediate story is reported here by Bloomberg.