Chinese copycats have lost a court battle with BMW in a dispute over plagiarism of the German company’s name and roundel by a clothing company.
Shanghai Daily reported that the Shanghai Intellectual Property Court found that two companies infringed BMW’s registered trademarks and capitalised on its reputation. The company has been ordered to pay BMW around £350,000 in compensation.
Read our history of Chinese copycats here
The copycat company was founded in 2008 as Deguo Baoma Group, which translates to ‘German BMW Group’, and authorised fashion brand Chuangjia to make use of a logo closely resembling the BMW roundel, albeit with an N in place of the W.
The plagiarised logo was sold on numerous clothing products including shoes and handbags, and was tweaked to even more closely match BMW's logo over its span of use.
It's not the first time BMW's roundel has been targeted by Chinese copycats. Car maker BYD has used a logo featuring the same colours and a similar design. The legal action resolved in the Shanghai court does not involve BYD, however.
Read about Jaguar's legal battle with Landwind here
Jaguar Land Rover is currently embroiled in a similar court battle with Chinese car maker LandWind, after the Chinese brand released the X7, a £14,000 SUV that bears a close resemblance to the Range Rover Evoque.
Autocar is awaiting response from BMW regarding its legal victory.
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It was only a matter of time
I've found.
They have made that thing:
https://www.bmw.co.uk/en_GB/new-vehicles/2/grantourer/2015/introduction.html
david RS wrote:
The Chinese really must try harder, that thing you found is awful
Plot completely lost
Also, the PDF of several pages doesn't mention the engine performance anywhere at all, but does go into raptures about trim strips, the several pointers on the satnav and the colour of various LED indicators.
It pains me to say it, but after owning five Beemers (E30 320i, 2 x E30 325i, E46 328Ci, E92 325i) over 30 years, I can't see myself buying another.
So the Chinese courts will issue fines for copying the badge