Chinese carmaker Geely Group was baffled by a lawsuit which has
been taken out against it by auto giant Toyota.
The Japanese firm accused Geely, the sector's sole private firm in
China, of violating intellectual property rights last December.
"Toyota accused us of installing their 8A engines illegally, but in
fact, their factories in China publicly sold those engines to us,"
said Geely Group lawyer Lou Tao yesterday.
He
said the official contract of the deal is still locked inside
Geely's office.
The Tianjin Toyota Motor Co Ltd, a joint venture between Toyota and
its Chinese partner Tianjin Xiali Automobile, had been supplying
motor engines to several models of Geely automobiles over past
three years, with trade hitting almost 400 million yuan (US$48
million).
In
another accusation, according to Geely Group, Toyota accused
Geely's Meiri series of automobiles of using a similar logo as
Toyota's, and asked Geely to stop using the logo and pay
compensation.
Lou said Geely had registered the logo in 1996 in related
administration, and was authorized to use it.
"We discussed the logo issue with Toyota early last year, and had
applied to the Trademark Office of the State Administration of
Industry and Commerce for arbitration," Lou said. The office was
still investigating the issue when Toyota decided to take it to
court.
Geely prefers to consider the lawsuit as a sign that Toyota wants
to take on its potential competitors in China before they develop,
since the claimed 14 million yuan (US$1.6 million) compensation
means next to nothing for both companies.
"They just want to block our development with barriers of
intellectual property rights," said a Geely official surnamed
Gu.
The description of the lawsuit from Toyota China Company apparently
differs with Geely's words. It said the concentration of its
lawsuit was on the similarity of the two brands' logos.
The Geely Group produced a logo similar to Toyota's, which could
mislead consumers, said Sun Tuoya, an official with Toyota China
Company. She denied Toyota sued Geely Group for installing the 8A
engine, which they sold commercially to Geely.
Sun said Toyota would not comment on Geely's announcement since the
case had entered the courts.
Analysts were also divided on the issue.
Qu
Weihai, director of Beijing Bitauto E-commerce Co, said Toyota
wants to use the case to declare its presence in China's automobile
markets "Toyota is just telling people 'I'm coming', and hopes it
can attract consumers' attention," he said.
Another independent analyst, Zhong Shi, said the case is just a
common dispute concerning intellectual property rights, and Geely's
reaction was far too extreme.
(China Daily February 25, 2003)