Remember Shuanghuan Automobile's Noble, the Chinese minicar that blatantly copies the design of the previous Smart Fortwo? Well, the Noble has made its appearance in several European countries including Greece where Smart's parent company, Daimler, naturally decided to take the importer, 'China Motors', to court in order to block the sale of the car in the Mediterranean country on the basis that infringes its design copyright for the ForTwo. Easy decision, right? Wrong...
Believe it or not, according to China Motors, a Greek court in Piraeus has just dismissed Daimler's claim on the basis that "an informed buyer would not confuse the Noble with the Smart Fortwo."
The judgment goes on to say that "it is commonly acknowledged that a decision to buy a car should not depend solely on the vehicle's exterior styling, but also on the technical features such as the automobile's engine."
In this aspect, China Motors said that the court took into consideration the fact that the Noble differs significantly in technical specifications from the Smart Fortwo as it is longer (3meters vs 2.5meters), it has two extra seats at the back and it incorporates a front-mounted engine sending power to the front wheels whereas the Fortwo has a rear-mounted engine that drives the rear wheels.
As for the styling similarities, the court ruled that they are "the result of their common nature", referring to the fact they belong to the same category of vehicles (minicars)!
In other words, according to the Piraeus court's reason, Chinese automakers can sell any clone they want in Greece as long as the technical specifications differ from the original product. Yep, we're pretty much convinced by now that for this particular judge, the MacPherson strut and Ellie MacPherson's butt are one in the same...
According to China Motors, the Noble will go on sale in Greece sometime during the second half of the year.
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