When Ineos Automotive unveiled its Land Rover Defender lookalike on July 1, Jaguar Land Rover took offense and filed a plagiarism claim. Yesterday, the court ruled in favor of Ineos.
JLR had tried patenting its iconic Defender appearance in Great Britain last fall, but IP experts found it not sufficiently different from its market peers to warrant a patent. The company submitted an appeal and did manage to acquire patents in select countries to at least try to prevent the Grenadier from launching to those markets.
Now, it is officially stated that the appeal has been rejected; Ineos has been greenlit to sell its Grenadier in England. A Jaguar Land Rover representative commented the company was frustrated with this decision.
In the meantime, Ineos Automotive continues wokring on its SUV, which is scheduled to hit the market next year. The production site remains undecided upon: the company had earlier mentioned Wales as the main site and Portugal as the chassis vendor, but has recently also considered purchasing Daimler’s Smart factory in Hambach, France.