No they couldn't. As I stated above, it is not enough to prove that the thing is the same.
Surely it is.
You need to prove that it is the same because the producer illegally acquired the designs.
So you don't know how the "reverse engineering" works.
If the defendant claims they reverse engineered it by taking one apart, measuring it and duplicating it, from my understanding (which I didn't read on the internet) then it is not illegal.
How to reverse engineer legally.
1. The burden of proof of legality in "reverse engineering" case lies on the accused, not the accuser.
2. The party interested in reverse engineering has two engineers.
3. Engineer A takes apart and analyze the product, keeping a detailed record of what he saw and produces a complete set of specification needed to design a functionally equivalent product. Thereafter, Engineer A is declared "dirty" and is taken off engineering duties, reassigned to management positions.
4. Engineer B receives the specification and functional description document from A and start building a functionally equivalent product from this set of document. Engineer B cannot speak with Engineer A.
5. The end result is a functionally equivalent product that does not resemble the original; it is statistically impossible to produce a product that is 100% identical this way.
6. The reverse engineering party much keep all the documents and records of these steps to defend itself in a possible "piracy" lawsuit.
And Chery cannot explain how it was managed to produce 100% identical designs by going through above steps.