A Chinese bus maker has sued the German auto company Neoplan Bus
GmbH, Neoplan's parent company and its marketing agency for libel,
sources with the Chinese company told Xinhua on Thursday.
The Zhongwei Bus & Coach Group, based in the coastal city of
Yancheng in east China's Jiangsu Province, claimed that the three
defendants have seriously damaged their business reputation by
irresponsibly claiming that Zhongwei's A9 bus was a "copycat
design" of Neoplan's award-winning Starliner.
The defendants are Neoplan Bus GmbH, its parent MAN Nutzfahrzeuge
AG and the online marketing agency Iven & Hillmann. They have
been summonsed to appear at the Yancheng City intermediate court on
July 17.
According to Ji Lijun, manager of Zhongwei's public relations
department, the defendants "defamed Zhongwei at a press conference
in Beijing last October in a totally irresponsible and unfair
manner".
"We request them to stop defaming us and repair the damage done",
said Ji.
Neoplan filed a suit at Beijing No.1 Intermediate People's Court on
September 26, 2006, accusing Zonda Industrial Group, the parent
company of Zhongwei, of copying the entire design of its Starliner
bus.
Zonda denied the accusation, saying that the A9's design was
original and had been granted a design patent by the state
intellectual property administration.
"Neoplan held a press conference in the name of its parent company
in Beijing on Oct. 19, 2006, before the court had made a ruling,
and publicized their claim that the A9 had 'stolen' their design.
Most press reports directly quoted Neoplan's accusation, greatly
denigrating our product," Ji said.
The dispute was exacerbated by a blog linked to a Der Speigel story
about the lawsuit. Hillmann from Iven & Hillmann company posted
on the regional Autoblog on October 22 comments to the effect "this
is a vivid example of how rapid and uninhibited the Chinese are
when it comes to copying."
Ji said such comments not only hurt Zonda, but also the entire
Chinese auto industry. "That's why we have decided to take them to
court."
He added that the court should decide whether or not Zonda pirated
the design and the defendants are not entitled to spread stories
before a judgement is made.
Hillmann apologized on the blog on Jan. 5 and said he did not
intend to hurt Sino-German relations, but he also questioned the
legitimacy of the Yancheng local court to try
Neoplan Starliner:
Zonda A9:
http://english.people.com.cn/200701/19/eng20070119_342936.html
