[bluffer]

Mercedes-Benz could take legal action to stop European sales of a microcar similar to the Smart ForTwo, according to Automotive News Europe.
Click to enlargeChina Automobile Deutschland plans to launch sales of the Shuanghuan Noble microcar soon after it shows the car at next month's IAA in Frankfurt.

The Noble has a design very similar to the ForTwo, except that it has four seats.

China Automobile Deutschland says it will sell the car in Germany priced about EUR 7,000, making it the cheapest car on sale in Europe's biggest market.

A spokesman for the Mercedes Car division told Automotive News Europe: "We take intellectual property very seriously and we reserve the right to pursue legal action. (The Noble) is a blatant attempt to copy a product of ours that has achieved cult status worldwide."

Click to enlargeMercedes has already made contact with Shuanghuan in China, the Mercedes spokesman said, but declined to comment further on what future steps would be.

China Automobile Deutschland Managing Director Klaus Schlossl said the car only bears a resemblance to the Smart ForTwo from certain angles.

Source: Samar.pl

 

[fish4fun]

Shuanghuan faces big trouble now...with BMW and D.C. etc.

DAIMLERCHRYSLER and BMW will sue Shuanghuan...bad news...

 

[mememe]

Good !! Sue them so they will learn the lesson and won't copy other people's work again and start to do their own things

 

[CCF mod]

BMW and Mercedes are thinking about sueing European importers of Shuanghuans clones.
German distributor China Automobile Deutschland plans to exibit Shuanghuan Noble and CEO at Frankfurt Auto Show which starts soon and that upset directors of BMW and MB. Not to mention that announced price of Noble is only 7.000 EUR in Germany...

 

[superidler]

Good !! Sue them so they will learn the lesson and won't copy other people's work again and start to do their own things

Well, why not while cloned spark become one of the best seller in china. They were just less smart than Chery. Imagine if chery brought QQ to New york motor show to sell over there....

 

[jikki]

do the crash test first~ I dont care the copy but the safty.

 

[hazik]

Good !! Sue them so they will learn the lesson and won't copy other people's work again and start to do their own things

HaHa , like GM sueing Chery over the QQ did GM any good.

 

[KFGroup]

Any one is allowed to sue anyone.

It is a matter of if they win.

Having seen these cars and there is more than 15-30% different, so I dont think they will win.

Just lawyers will win and get money.

 

[m14]

BMW Sues Shuanghuan's Importer in Germany, But Not the Company

SHANGHAI - September 18, 2007:


BMW AG has filed suit against Shuanghuan's importer in Munich last week to prevent the importer from selling a Shuanghua SUV model that BMW said is a copy of its X5, BMW AG's spokerperson told reporters last week.

"BMW AG's lawsuit targets Shuanghuan's importer in Germany, not Shuanghuan itself," said Ma Qingsheng, BMW AG's spokesperson in Beijing. "BMW AG so far has no plan to sue Shuanghuan itself."

Shuanghuan has so far not released any official response to BMW AG's legal actions in Germany.

However, the Munich-based importer was undaunted by BWM AG's legal threat. Karl Schloss, chief executive of China Automobile, which plans to import Shuanghua-made SUV model indicated that his company would not back off from importing the controversial Shuanghua-made SUV model, according to an Associated Press report.

 

[vitordavid]

Let me see if i got this right:
BMW sues the importer to Germany and dont sues the fabric in China.
Because the laws of copyright are strict in Europe, and very loose in China.
Like General Motors had discovered.

 

[CCF mod]

Despite facing possible suit from Mercedes, EU importer of Shuanghuan is preparing to launch Noble to European market.

The EU importer of the Xiao Gui Zu otherwise known as the Little Nobel, and now simply ‘Bubble’, Martin Motors has put the super mini car on the market in the EU.

Martin Motors appears not to be afraid of the mighty legal hand of Daimler AG, who earlier threatened to sue if the Little Nobel went on sale in their own backyard, hence sales in Germany of the Bubble have yet to commence due to legal wrangling. The 1.1l, 68bhp motor is going on sale in Italy for just 9,000 Euros.

source: China Car Times

 

[BringIt]

Though the car "look alike" the Smart, if it is completely diff inside and out, it'd be hard for MBZ to win.

Regardless, Chinese car companies HAS to work on own designs and stop getting "inspiration" from other cars.

 

[CCF mod]

Daimler blocks debut of Chinese smart clone

Daimler's not taking the close resemblance of a Chinese minicar to a smart fortwo lightly. The German automaker has gotten a court order forbidding Martin Motors, the European distributor for China's Shuanghuan Automobile, from displaying the Shuanghuan Noble at the upcoming Bologna Auto Show. This is the second time Daimler has blocked the Noble from being displayed, having taken similar action at the Frankfurt show.

Martin Motors is calling the Noble the Bubble in Europe, since there's already another Noble. Martin contends that the Bubble is not a copy of the fortwo, citing the four seats and front engine configuration among the differentiating details. Martin Motors has also demanded in Italian courts that Daimler prove its exclusive rights to the design of the smart. If a resolution can be reached, the Bubble will go on sale for about $10,000 euros across Europe. The resemblance is striking, but copying the look isn't the same as cribbing the underlying engineering. We haven't had the opportunity to crawl over, under, or through the Bubble, so we can't comment on whether it's better or worse than the smart, but from the looks of things in the video we've posted after the jump, the Bubble is hardly a premium vehicle. Shuanghuan also sells the CEO, a midsize SUV that borrows an awful lot from the BMW X5's looks. The appearance similarities between Shuanghuan's vehicles and those of well respected competitors may not help the Chinese automaker avoid having its European sales bubble burst.

source: Autoblog

 

[pokershark]

i think this was expected, and SCEO will face same

 

[dilshod]

To everybody (I need email for Sceo producer)

Dear Sirs,

Does somebody know e-mail address for Sceo producer? I have tried to find it in their website without any success

 

[CCF mod]

Daimler on verge of settling Smart ForTwo clone car suit in Europe.

For more than a year now, Mercedes' parent company Daimler has pursued a copyright infringement case against Chinese carmaker Shuanghuan for its Bubble, a blatant knock-off of the Smart ForTwo minicar. A recent holding in a Milanese court has put the German company on the back foot, however, and reports now indicate it is considering settlement to avoid paying huge sums in damages.

The doubt that has crept into Daimler's outlook on the matter comes courtesy of an Italian court's holding on a similar case between BMW and Shuanghuan on the distribution of the CEO, an SUV that bears a striking resemblance to the first-gen BMW X5, essentially allowing Shuanghuan to sell the cars with impunity, and potentially opening BMW to liability for lost sales due to the lawsuit.

The CEO/X5 lawsuit garnered global attention when it broke in 2007, in part because of Shuanghuan's open stance on the matter, essentially saying that copy cars are legal. "Noble and CEO cars, approved by the Chinese government, are legal products," said a company spokesperson. A Munich court even banned the CEO entirely.

In December, 2007, Shuanghuan flouted the ongoing injunction against the Bubble in Italy by displaying the car at the Bologna Motor Show. At the time, things looked bleak for Shuanghuan and the move was viewed as a stunt. In retrospect, it may have been a shrewd business move. Daimler's ForTwo/Bubble suit is before a court in Milan, the same city where the CEO/X5 lawsuit was decided, and so it has been forced to reconsider the strength of its position. What had initially appeared to be a clear-cut case of copyright infringement has now turned about and become a clear loser.

The Milan court's ruling in the case of the Shuanghuan CEO held that it would be impossible for consumers to mistake the Chinese clones for BMW products, reports Automotive News Europe, and that the significant price difference prohibited any real damage to BMW's copyright or trademark, despite the obvious similarity in design.

ercedes decided to sue Shuanghuan Automotive for copyright infringement for its Bubble microcar (called the Noble in China), claiming it was a copy of the smart fortwo. BMW then decided to bring its own case against Shuanghuan, citing the Shuanghuan CEO as a blatant facsimile of the BMW X5 (that's the CEO on the wall in the above picture). Mercedes got the Bubble banned from display at a couple of auto shows, BMW won its copyright infringement lawsuit in Munich, and Mercedes sued the Bubble's importer, Martin Motors of Italy, to block sales of the car.

It was all looking good... until BMW lost its case in courts in Munich and in China. The Italian court ruled that "consumers could not get confused" when similar vehicles are offered "with a significant price difference." With BMW cold knocked out in the Copyright Cage Match, Mercedes has been left alone in the octagon with Shuanghuan bearing down on it. It also hasn't helped that Italian commentators have already said they don't think the two cars will be confused.

Now Mercedes is looking for an exit. Martin Motors countersued Mercedes for €100,000,000 - around $134.2 million USD - citing potential lost Bubble sales (that's a lotta Bubbles), and Mercedes doesn't want to lose its case and have to fork over colossal damages. Both sides expect the case to be resolved in a couple of weeks, and Bubbles are expected to go on sale this summer.

source: Motor Authority, Jan 6th 2009

 

[mememe]

I thought justice will always be served in the Western jurisdiction system.

Mercesdes wants to sue and now getting sued back for hundred of millions of dollars lol

Shuanghuan Automotive lol


PS : This is not in China. Surprised ? Stay tuned.

 

[m14]

if a clone is made for cheaper, the main manufacturer shouldnt complain they should learn how production was so cehap

 

[mememe]

if a clone is made for cheaper, the main manufacturer shouldnt complain they should learn how production was so cehap

Making a cheap and nasty car is easy, Mercedes can definitely do that but the quality and safety are compromised. The evidence is the score of Shuanghuan crash tests in C-nCAP alone. Just 1 word : Mediocre.