A Dutch court has lifted the seizure of documents related to BYD Company Limited (BYD) and its Fangchengbao Tai 7 model, dealing a setback to Jaguar Land Rover in its intellectual property dispute with the Chinese automaker.
On November 11, the District Court of The Hague ruled that Jaguar Land Rover, which had applied to preserve the documents three months earlier, must notify the judicial officer or custodian to destroy the seized data within 24 hours of receiving the ruling. Once the destruction is complete, Jaguar Land Rover must provide proof to BYD within another 24 hours.
The judge found that Jaguar Land Rover did not need to review BYD's internal documents to prove that the Tai 7 infringes the design rights of the Land Rover Defender, nor were the materials necessary to calculate lost sales. As of the date of the ruling, BYD had not sold a single Tai 7 in the European Union. The court did not rule on whether the Tai 7 actually infringes the Defender's design rights.
The fact that the BYD Tai 7 has not yet been launched for sale in the EU market was a key consideration in the court's finding that the large-scale evidence seizure lacked sufficient relevance. This sends a clear signal: in overseas intellectual property enforcement, the scope of evidence collection must match the product's market presence and the burden of proof, and cannot be arbitrarily expanded.
Some lawyers believe this outcome effectively safeguards a company's legitimate rights and interests, as well as the security boundary of its proprietary technology and trade secrets.
Jaguar Land Rover had hoped to find clues about the development of the Tai 7 in the seized files. Both the Tai 7 and the Defender feature boxy bodies, upright front ends, and flat roofs. Jaguar Land Rover suspected that BYD had purchased a Defender, disassembled it to study the underlying technology, and used that research to develop the Tai 7.
In August, with permission from the Dutch court, judicial officers entered two BYD offices in Schiedam and Hoofddorp and copied electronic records and some paper documents. Schiedam is the location of BYD's European company. The company, BYD's earliest overseas subsidiary, was founded in Rotterdam in 1998 and relocated to Schiedam in 2015. The preserved materials included the Tai 7's launch plans, technical and financial information, and records in BYD's systems related to the Land Rover Defender.
The materials were sealed at the time by a designated custodian. Jaguar Land Rover would have needed separate court permission to view the contents. In October, lawyers for both sides faced off in The Hague. Court hearing information showed that BYD said it had been cooperating with Jaguar Land Rover's requests for information, and its lawyer described the search as a "fishing expedition," arguing that the seized documents far exceeded what the dispute required. Jaguar Land Rover, meanwhile, accused BYD of obstructing the seizure.
In the November 11 ruling, the judge preliminarily found that BYD had fulfilled its cooperation obligations and did not need to pay the penalty payment Jaguar Land Rover sought on that basis, and ordered Jaguar Land Rover to immediately cease enforcement measures taken under the original seizure order.
Jaguar Land Rover has also filed separate lawsuits over the Defender's design in two Dutch cities. In The Hague, it claims the Defender's design rights have been infringed. Under EU design rules, determining the scope of protection requires comparing the overall impression the two designs leave on informed users familiar with such products, while also considering how much creative freedom the designer had. Both vehicles share a "boxy" silhouette, and Jaguar Land Rover still needs to specify which elements of the Tai 7's design fall within the Defender's protected scope. In Rotterdam, it has filed a separate lawsuit concerning copyright and passing off.
What Jaguar Land Rover is seeking to protect is its flagship model. From July to September this year, the group wholesaled 82,400 vehicles globally, of which the Defender series accounted for 29,500 units, or nearly 36%. BYD has brought to Europe a vehicle that already has a proven sales track record. The Tai 7 was launched in China in September 2025. According to disclosures by Fangchengbao on October 30, cumulative sales of the model have exceeded 300,000 units, with overseas sales reaching 27,000 units, having already entered six Middle Eastern and African markets including Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
In Europe, the Tai 7 first opened reservations to British buyers. After Brexit, EU design rights no longer automatically apply in the United Kingdom. On July 31 this year, BYD announced that the seven-seat plug-in hybrid version of the Tai 7 would be priced at £47,995 on the road in the UK, with buyers able to reserve one by paying a £500 deposit. According to prices listed by the British car magazine Top Gear, the seven-seat Defender 110 starts at £68,465, a difference of £20,470 between the two vehicles. Under BYD's published plans, the first British buyers will take delivery in January 2027.
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