A Chinese bus maker has sued the German auto company Neoplan Bus GmbH, Neoplan's parent company and its marketing agency for libel, sources with the Chinese company told Xinhua on Thursday.
The Zhongwei Bus & Coach Group, based in the coastal city of Yancheng in east China's Jiangsu Province, claimed that the three defendants have seriously damaged their business reputation by irresponsibly claiming that Zhongwei's A9 bus was a "copycat design" of Neoplan's award-winning Starliner.
The defendants are Neoplan Bus GmbH, its parent MAN Nutzfahrzeuge AG and the online marketing agency Iven & Hillmann. They have been summonsed to appear at the Yancheng City intermediate court on July 17.
According to Ji Lijun, manager of Zhongwei's public relations department, the defendants "defamed Zhongwei at a press conference in Beijing last October in a totally irresponsible and unfair manner".
"We request them to stop defaming us and repair the damage done", said Ji.
Neoplan filed a suit at Beijing No.1 Intermediate People's Court on September 26, 2006, accusing Zonda Industrial Group, the parent company of Zhongwei, of copying the entire design of its Starliner bus.
Zonda denied the accusation, saying that the A9's design was original and had been granted a design patent by the state intellectual property administration.
"Neoplan held a press conference in the name of its parent company in Beijing on Oct. 19, 2006, before the court had made a ruling, and publicized their claim that the A9 had 'stolen' their design. Most press reports directly quoted Neoplan's accusation, greatly denigrating our product," Ji said.
The dispute was exacerbated by a blog linked to a Der Speigel story about the lawsuit. Hillmann from Iven & Hillmann company posted on the regional Autoblog on October 22 comments to the effect "this is a vivid example of how rapid and uninhibited the Chinese are when it comes to copying."
Ji said such comments not only hurt Zonda, but also the entire Chinese auto industry. "That's why we have decided to take them to court."
He added that the court should decide whether or not Zonda pirated the design and the defendants are not entitled to spread stories before a judgement is made.
Hillmann apologized on the blog on Jan. 5 and said he did not intend to hurt Sino-German relations, but he also questioned the legitimacy of the Yancheng local court to try
Neoplan Starliner:
Zonda A9:
http://english.people.com.cn/200701/19/eng20070119_342936.html