广州专利翻译公司：捷豹路虎在华专利诉讼受挫

JLR hits setback onChinapatent fight

捷豹路虎在华专利诉讼受挫

广州专利翻译公司：中国知识产权局宣布，捷豹路虎和被告江铃汽车相关车型的外部设计专利均为无效，这令捷豹路虎陷入不利处境。

Jaguar Land Rover’s chances of winning a lawsuit against a Chinese carmaker over patent infringement have been undermined by the country’s decision to cancel both companies’ patents.

捷豹路虎(Jaguar Land Rover)因专利侵权向一家中国汽车制造商发起的法律诉讼获胜的可能性降低，原因是中国决定同时宣布双方的专利无效。广州专利翻译公司。

This month, JLR told Reuters it had begun legal action in Beijing against Jiangling Motors over its Landwind X7 SUV, which the UK-based company claims infringes the patented external designs of its Range Rover Evoque.

本月捷豹路虎曾向路透社(Reuters)表示，已针对江铃汽车(Jiangling Motors)的陆风X7(Landwind X7)运动型多功能车(SUV)，在北京对江铃汽车采取法律行动。这家总部驻英国的公司声称，陆风X7侵犯了其揽胜极光(Range Rover Evoque)车型有专利保护的外部设计。广州专利翻译公司。

But the Chinese patents for both models’ exterior designs were designated “invalid” by the State Intellectual Property Office at the beginning of this month, according to notices on the office’s website, on grounds that the Evoque design was put on public display a year before the patent was filed.

然而，根据中国国家知识产权局(State Intellectual Property Office)网站的通知，本月初该局将这两款车型外部设计的中国专利均标为“无效”，理由是揽胜极光的设计在申请专利之前已公开展示了一年。

This filing was central to JLR’s lawsuit against Jiangling for copyright infringement and unfair competition, which experts say is now likely to be thrown out. JLR said it was unable to comment on the case.

对于捷豹路虎起诉江铃汽车侵权和不正当竞争的案子，这一专利申请的提交是个核心问题；专家们表示，如今该案的诉讼请求可能被驳回。捷豹路虎表示无法就该案置评。广州专利翻译公司。

JLR’s chief executive Ralf Speth had previously expressed hope that, this year,Chinawould once again become the group’s top country for sales, after a slowdown in 2015 hit profits for the Tata Motors-owned business.

捷豹路虎首席执行官施韦德(Ralf Speth)此前曾表示希望，今年中国会再次成为该集团销量最高的国家。此前在2015年，中国经济放缓曾打击这家塔塔汽车(Tata Motors)旗下企业的盈利。

Now, the patent cancellation puts JLR on a difficult legal footing. Once patents are invalidated, lawsuits based on external design often come down to a question of “consumer confusion”, said Matthew Murphy, a partner at law firm MMLC Group. “It starts to get very subjective,” he explained.

如今，专利被宣布无效令捷豹路虎陷入困难的法律处境。律师事务所北京铭辉达知识产权代理公司(MMLC Group)合伙人麦铭辉(Matthew Murphy)表示，一旦专利被宣布无效，基于外部设计的法律诉讼往往归结为“消费者混淆”的问题。他解释说：“这就开始变得非常主观。”广州专利翻译公司。

JLR and Jiangling’s SUV models look almost identical from a distance but are priced very differently, with the Range Rover Evoque selling for about three times the price of the Landwind.

捷豹路虎和江铃汽车的SUV车型从远处看几乎完全一样，但价格相差极大，揽胜极光的价格大约是陆风的三倍。

Mark Bishop, head of JLR’sChinasales, acknowledged this legal difficultywhen discussing the Landwind model at the Beijing Auto Show in April: “People are not walking into a showroom and saying ‘Should I buy a Landwind or should I buy an Evoque?’”

在4月份的北京国际车展(Beijing Auto Show)上讨论陆风车型时，捷豹路虎在华销售主管毕少朴(Mark Bishop)承认了这一法律困境：“人们不会走进展厅说：‘我该买陆风还是揽胜极光？’”

But, post purchase, some Landwind buyers have taken to “upgrading” their models by fitting them with Land Rover logos and grilles from online suppliers on Taobao, a platform similar to eBay.

然而，在买车后，一些陆风买家动脑筋“升级”——为这些车装上从淘宝网(Taobao)的在线供应商购买的捷豹路虎标识和格栅。淘宝是与eBay类似的网络销售平台。

Complaints by foreign companies about intellectual property theft are commonplace inChina, and automakers have often lost such cases in the past. In 2008, Fiat Chrysler lost a case against Great Wall Motors when it was unable to prove the Chinese company had copied the external design of its Panda model.

在中国，外国企业抱怨知识产权遭窃是常见的事情，汽车制造商过去经常输掉这类官司。2008年，由于无法证明长城汽车(Great Wall Motors)抄袭了其熊猫(Panda)车型的外部设计，菲亚特克莱斯勒(Fiat Chrysler)曾输掉针对长城汽车的法律诉讼。

“There’s no way to totally avoid these kinds of copies in China,” Mr Speth said just over a month ago at the Beijing Auto Show. “The laws are not even defined in a way so that we can do anything against it. We just have to take it as it is.”

在仅仅一个多月前的北京国际车展上，施韦德曾表示：“在中国没法完全避免这类抄袭。法律的界定方式不能保证我们能够对此采取行动。我们只能尽力而为。”

广州专利翻译公司