Shanghai Automotive Industrial Corp Chery Automobile Company said yesterday reports that it had infringed on the intellectual property rights of General Motors Corp are speculation and that it does not expect legal action from GM.
Zhong Pengzhi, director of the company's brand quality department, rejected reports that Chery's QQ subcompact car relied on designs from GM's Matiz, which is produced by GM Daewoo Automotive Technology company in South Korea.
"We know that the newspapers are speculating that we have made a copy of the Matiz," said Zhong.
"Why haven't we defended ourselves? Because we know that this is only speculation. GM has no evidence to show that we made a copy of it. We don't believe that GM will complain to the courts so we haven't made any legal preparations," he said.
The remarks follow a statement from Tim Stratford, vice chairman and general counsel of the GM China Group, that the company was investigating similarities between its model and that of "a competitor product."
"While it's too early to comment on what action we might take in this specific case, GM and our joint ventures take all violations of intellectual property rights very seriously," he said.
Daphne Zheng, director of public affairs and communications for GM China, said the company has yet to make any allegations against a specific company, and that it would prefer "to proceed with a thorough investigation first."
GM is reported to have been aware of the similarities between its model and the Chery's QQ.
Local media first reported the story in April, when Chery pulled the QQ from the Shanghai auto show at the last minute.
Despite the threat that GM might take action, Zhong said the design for the QQ is Chery's and that it has been copyrighted.
"More importantly, we have registered 24 patents for it with the State Intellectual Property Office," he said.
Chery is 20 percent owned by GM's main joint-venture partner in China, SAIC.
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