- JLR's Dutch request for unannounced searches and broad access to BYD's R&D files was denied, with the court finding insufficient linkage between seized materials and infringement claims.
- Ti7 pre-orders in the UK list a seven-seat Excellence AWD at £47,995 (about $63,640) with deliveries slated for January 2027; JLR must return seized data and pay €25,376.57 (about $28,110).
- The Ti7 targets Land Rover Defender buyers, but enforcement timing, unresolved design harm, cross-jurisdictional evidence limits, and potential reputational and legal escalation pose execution risks.
On November 11 local time, the District Court of The Hague in the Netherlands issued a ruling in the intellectual property dispute between Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) and BYD’s Fangchengbao Ti7, known as the BYD Ti7 in overseas markets.
The court formally rejected JLR’s application to preserve evidence, refusing its request for an unannounced search of BYD’s offices and access to the automaker’s internal R&D documents.
The court found that JLR had not demonstrated sufficient grounds for such a broad collection of BYD’s internal materials.
It ordered JLR to destroy or return all materials obtained during the earlier searches within 24 hours, warning that failure to comply would result in a penalty of €50,000 ($55,384) for every hour of delay.
The evidence-gathering operation began in August this year, when JLR applied to the Dutch court for authorization to conduct unannounced searches at BYD’s offices.
After the application was approved, court bailiffs visited BYD offices in Schiedam and Hoofddorp, where they made backups of data from relevant IT systems and copied paper documents found on the premises.
According to details disclosed during the court proceedings, the materials obtained by JLR included information on the Ti7’s product launch plans, technical data and related financial details.
They also included information about the Land Rover Defender stored on BYD’s computer systems.
JLR’s main justification for seeking the evidence was its belief that the Ti7’s exterior design resembled that of the Land Rover Defender, as well as its suspicion that BYD had reverse-engineered the Defender.
BYD argued that the scope of the materials obtained by JLR went beyond the specific infringement allegations and amounted to a broad fishing expedition without clearly defined limits.
Presiding judge Hugo van Heemstra accepted the substance of BYD’s arguments, finding insufficient connection between the evidence collected and the allegations in question.
The court noted that the Ti7 had not yet been launched in the European Union and that JLR had failed to demonstrate that the model had caused it any quantifiable damage.
The court also rejected JLR’s earlier request for a €500,000 ($553,850) penalty against BYD over alleged non-cooperation with the evidence-gathering process.
It also ordered JLR to pay BYD legal costs of €25,376.57 ($28,110).
The dispute comes as the Ti7 prepares to enter the European market. The model opened for pre-orders in the UK in July this year.
Its seven-seat Excellence AWD version had an initial price of £47,995 ($63,640), with deliveries scheduled to begin in January 2027.
By comparison, the seven-seat Land Rover Defender 110 starts at £68,465 ($90,780) in the UK, while the plug-in hybrid version is priced at close to £72,000 ($95,460).
Positioned as a seven-seat plug-in hybrid SUV, the Ti7 will compete with the Defender for some of the same customer demand in the UK market.
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