Destroy raided documents, Dutch court tells Jaguar Land Rover in IP fight with BYD

A Dutch court has rendered a ruling in favour of BYD in the Chinese electric vehicle (EV) giant’s dispute with Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) over the British luxury carmaker’s intellectual property (IP) claims.

JLR was ordered to destroy documents obtained in a raid of BYD’s Netherlands offices, according to a ruling published by the District Court of The Hague on Thursday.

Judge HFR van Heemstra said in the ruling that the materials had to be destroyed within 24 hours, with JLR facing a fine of €500,000 (US$553,100) if it failed to do so.

In August, court-ordered bailiffs raided BYD’s offices in Schiedam and Hoofddorp to seize paper and digital documents about the design of the Fang Cheng Bao Ti7 electric SUV, after JLR took the Chinese EV assembler to court over copycat claims, according to the Times of London.

JLR alleged that BYD could have infringed upon its IP rights by reverse-engineering its Defender vehicle.

The District Court of The Hague ruled that JLR’s claims could not be established without solid evidence.

BYD would not comment on the matter and JLR did not respond to queries from the South China Morning Post on Friday.

Fang Cheng Bao is a premium EV brand launched by BYD in 2023 as the Chinese company looked to mount a challenge to the likes of Toyota’s Prado and Land Rover amid the domestic market’s rapid shift to EVs.

“The IP infringement claims [by JLR] will prompt Chinese carmakers to strengthen their legal teams as they double their efforts to expand abroad,” said Gong Zhenhua, a partner with Ronghe Law Firm in Shanghai. “Without sufficient knowledge about local regulations and laws, they could face increasing legal risks in markets like Europe and Latin America.”

Early this week, South Africa’s National Consumer Commission announced that it was investigating compliance issues involving a recall of 23,667 Chery Automobile vehicles in the country.

The commission said in a statement that Chery failed to notify the regulator when it recalled the vehicles due to potential defects in their rear-axle welding and brake pipes.

BYD and Chery are mainland China’s two largest car exporters this year.

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China’s sales of EVs outside the mainland hit an all-time high for a second straight month in October, as the country’s carmakers rode a surge in overseas demand driven by the Middle East energy shock.

Chinese brands delivered a total of 582,000 pure electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles to customers abroad last month, a 144.7 per cent jump from a year earlier, according to data from the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA).

In September, the CPCA predicted that overseas Chinese vehicle sales – which comprise passenger cars, buses and lorries – could top 12 million units in 2026, up 44 per cent from last year’s 8.3 million.