The German designed Neoplan Starliner (left) and the Chinese made A9 coach (right) have a very similar overall look. (China.org.cn)

The First Intermediate People's Court of Beijing has ordered three Chinese automakers to pay 20 million yuan (US$2.92 million) compensation and 1.16 million yuan (US$169,000) in legal costs to Germany auto company Neoplan which had successfully sued them for patent infringement.

The court said the A9 coach produced by Zhongwei Passenger Bus Company and Zhongda Industrial Group China has essentially the same design as the Neoplan Starliner. The companies have been ordered to stop producing the A9 and Beijing Zhongtong Xinghua Auto Sales Company has been ordered to halt sales of the vehicles.

The Neoplan Starliner was developed in 2005 by well known German coachmaker Neoplan Bus GmbH and was covered by patents. The company discovered in 2006 that the A9 coach produced by the Zhongwei Passenger Bus Company was almost identical with the Starliner.

Zhongwei Passenger Bus Company is a subsidiary company of Zhongda Industrial Group China. The defendants claimed the A9 coaches were developed independently, but the court ruled that apart from some slight differences, the overall look of the A9 buses was the same as the Neoplan Starliner.

Neoplan Starliner coaches are produced both in Germany and in southeast China's Zhejiang Province by the Youngman Coach Company. The selling price in China is around 2 million yuan (US $292,000). Youngman said that the appearance of the A9 coach on the market had not affected sales of the Starliner.

(China.org.cn by Wu Huanshu, February 3, 2009)