Fiat says never plagiarized car designs in its history

Shanghai, October 20 (Gasgoo.com) Italian car maker Fiat SpA denied an accusation from China's Great Wall Motor Co on Monday, saying it never copying other automaker's design in its development history.

"We have not received any document related to the lawsuit yet and we do not fully understand the reasons for the case," Fiat said in a statement. "Fiat never plagiarized or copied products design of any carmaker in the world during its 110-year history."

Great Wall Motor said on October 9 that it had already lodged a complaint with the Shijiazhuang Intermediate People's Court in June and had submitted substantial evidence to prove that Fiat staffs illegally visited the former's research centre and took pictures of the Peri compact hatchback then under development.

Great Wall spokesman Shang Yugui said yesterday that Shijiazhuang Intermediate People's Court is preparing to send the complaint to Fiat's headquarters in Italy.

Fiat previously took Great Wall to court in 2007 over the latter's Peri model, which it said was a copy of the Fiat Panda. An Italian court ruled against Great Wall at the time, which led to restrictions on Great Wall selling this model in Europe.

However when Fiat filed its claim to China's Shijiazhuang Intermediate People's Court later, the court dismissed the claim and ordered Fiat to pay the court $1,291 in court fees.

Chinese car makers have been involved in a series of copyright infringement cases in recent years since the country began pushing its auto industry to develop more self-branded models. The intellectual property rights issue is also used by foreign car makers to prevent price-competitive Chinese cars from selling in their home markets.