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.
Real estate agent and property developer JSL Construction & Development Co (愛山林) led the average compensation rankings among companies listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE) last year, while contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) finished 14th. JSL Construction paid its employees total average compensation of NT$4.78 million (US$159,701), down 13.5 percent from a year earlier, but still ahead of the most profitable listed tech giants, including TSMC, TWSE data showed. Last year, the average compensation (which includes salary, overtime, bonuses and allowances) paid by TSMC rose 21.6 percent to reach about NT$3.33 million, lifting its ranking by 10 notches
Popular vape brands such as Geek Bar might get more expensive in the US — if you can find them at all. Shipments of vapes from China to the US ground to a near halt last month from a year ago, official data showed, hit by US President Donald Trump’s tariffs and a crackdown on unauthorized e-cigarettes in the world’s biggest market for smoking alternatives. That includes Geek Bar, a brand of flavored vapes that is not authorized to sell in the US, but which had been widely available due to porous import controls. One retailer, who asked not to be named, because
SEASONAL WEAKNESS: The combined revenue of the top 10 foundries fell 5.4%, but rush orders and China’s subsidies partially offset slowing demand Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) further solidified its dominance in the global wafer foundry business in the first quarter of this year, remaining far ahead of its closest rival, Samsung Electronics Co, TrendForce Corp (集邦科技) said yesterday. TSMC posted US$25.52 billion in sales in the January-to-March period, down 5 percent from the previous quarter, but its market share rose from 67.1 percent the previous quarter to 67.6 percent, TrendForce said in a report. While smartphone-related wafer shipments declined in the first quarter due to seasonal factors, solid demand for artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing (HPC) devices and urgent TV-related orders
MINERAL DIPLOMACY: The Chinese commerce ministry said it approved applications for the export of rare earths in a move that could help ease US-China trade tensions Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng (何立峰) is today to meet a US delegation for talks in the UK, Beijing announced on Saturday amid a fragile truce in the trade dispute between the two powers. He is to visit the UK from yesterday to Friday at the invitation of the British government, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement. He and US representatives are to cochair the first meeting of the US-China economic and trade consultation mechanism, it said. US President Donald Trump on Friday announced that a new round of trade talks with China would start in London beginning today,
RSS