Yesterday, General Motor Daewoo Automobile Technology Company (GMDAT) brought suit to Beijing First Intermediate People’s Court against Chery Automobile Co. LTD (Chery), claiming unfair competition by Chery and relevant indemnity of 80 million.
GMDAT claimed that QQ produced by Chery is surprisingly similar to Spark, which was produced on the basis of “MATIZ”. In May of 2003, General Motors Daewoo signed a licensing technology agreement with their joint venture Shanghai Automobile General Motors Wuling Automobile Company Limited (Shangqi GM Wuling) and authorized Shangqi GM Wuling to manufacture and sell SPARK car in China.
In the claim, GMDAT required Chery to apologize for its infringement in public, and compensate GMDAT’s economic lose of RMB 75 million plus the cost of lawyer and relevant investigation for 5 million. All the income of selling Chery QQ should be confisticated, and Shanghai Jinhong Company (Chery QQ’s main dealer) should stopping selling this product.
Chery claimed that QQ was designed independently, no any patent infringement.
This suit is still in process now.
The pictured page is from The Beijing News, the top photo is Chery QQ, the bottom one is Spark.