China's Great Wall Motors Co., Ltd is suing Italian car maker Fiat for allegedly stealing its business secrets.

The case appears to be the second round in a battle that began when Fiat accused Great Wall of copying one of its cars in 2007.

In the latest barrage, Great Wall Motor, a Chinese sport utility vehicle maker based in Shijiazhuang in Hebei Province, said Fiat sent spies to its engineering center and took pictures of its first subcompact car, the Peri, while it was under development before its release in 2007.

Great Wall spokesman Shang Yugui said yesterday that the car maker filed the lawsuit with the Shijiazhuang Intermediate People's Court, and the court is preparing to send the complaint to Fiat's headquarters in Italy.

Two years ago, an Italian court ruled that Great Wall's Peri resembles Fiat's Panda and banned the Peri from being sold in Europe. A similar claim filed by Fiat in the Shijiazhuang court was dismissed last year.

In the new complaint, Liu Hongkai, an attorney for Great Wall, said the evidence shows Fiat illegally visited Great Wall's engineering center in 2007 and collected information on the Peri.

"They could have gotten other important research and development secrets as well," Liu told Shanghai Daily in a telephone interview yesterday.

He did not disclose the evidence the company claims will show an improper intrusion by Fiat or exactly what business secrets might have been compromised.

In its suit, the Chinese car maker is demanding a public apology and 100,000 yuan (US$14,649) in compensation. Liu acknowledged the amount was relatively small but said it might be difficult to judge the value of any secrets stolen.

Fiat denied the accusation in a statement yesterday.

Chinese car makers have been involved a series of copyright infringement cases since the country began pushing its auto industry to develop more self-branded models after years of mainly assembling vehicles for overseas manufacturers. Among them, the Shuanghuan CEO sport utility vehicle made by China's Shuanghuan Automobile Co has been accused of being a copycat of BMW's X5 SUV. The intellectual property rights issue is also used by overseas car makers to prevent price-competitive Chinese cars from selling in their home markets.