Bailiffs have reportedly raided the Dutch offices of Chinese carmaker BYD following claims by Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) of copyright infringement.

The BYD Ti7 plug-in hybrid SUV is at the centre of the legal storm

Over the weekend, The Sunday Times published an exclusive investigation into JLR’s legal strategy to seize digital records and documents from its Chinese rival.

The legal battle will escalate to a court case in The Hague this week, where a judge will decide whether BYD has a case to answer over allegations that its upcoming Ti7 SUV directly infringes on the intellectual property of the Land Rover Defender.

According to The Sunday Times, JLR is claiming that BYD illegally reverse-engineered the Land Rover Defender by stripping down a physical model to gain insights into its technology during the development of the Ti7.

The report claims JLR’s legal team fast-tracked the raid specifically to secure these digital records before they could potentially be destroyed.

The newspaper also says JLR’s legal advisers claimed that BYD’s team attempted to stall and stonewall the file seizure, with bailiffs allegedly describing the Chinese automaker’s delaying tactics as “unprecedented”.

JLR and BYD have declined to comment on the “ongoing legal proceedings”.

The vehicle at the centre of the storm is a seven-seat plug-in hybrid SUV sold in China as the Fangchengbao Ti7 and open for pre-orders in the UK under the BYD badge. Notably, the Chinese carmaker’s first seven-seat model for the UK is priced from £47,995 – undercutting JLR’s seven-seat Defender 110 by more than £20,000.

The case is being handled in the Netherlands because its courts historically favour intellectual property theft claims.

JLR is no stranger to copyright claims, having famously spent years fighting a high-profile legal battle in China against Jiangling Motor over its Landwind X7, which bore a resemblance to the Range Rover Evoque. JLR won that landmark case in Beijing in 2019.

More recently, the carmaker has pursued a different approach to the competition threat from China. It’s paired up with Chery Automotive Group to bring back the iconic Freelander nameplate as a standalone global automotive brand created through a 50:50 joint venture and making its way to the UK as part of its final international expansion phase.

Under the JV, JLR owns the Freelander brand and has established a dedicated Freelander Design Hub that leads its design. Chery provides advanced intelligent technology and the global supply chain.