A Dutch court has ordered Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) to destroy files seized from BYD’s Dutch offices over allegations that the BYD Ti 7 imitated the Land Rover Defender. JLR must instruct the bailiff or court-appointed custodian to destroy the files within 24 hours after formal service of the ruling. Failure to issue those instructions on time carries a penalty of 50,000 euros (55,385 USD) per hour, capped at 500,000 euros (553,850 USD).
Judge H.F.R. van Heemstra issued the preliminary ruling on November 11 at the District Court of The Hague (Rechtbank Den Haag, Case No. C/09/713312 / KG ZA 26-1036, ECLI:NL:RBDHA:2026:33114). The decision, reported by Dutch automotive outlet AutoWeek via news agency ANP, overturns an August evidence seizure covering internal records taken from BYD offices in Schiedam and Hoofddorp. As we previously reported, JLR obtained the seizure after alleging that the BYD Ti 7, sold in China as the Fang Cheng Bao Tai 7, copied the Defender’s exterior design. The company also suspected BYD of reverse-engineering the SUV.
The court authorised the seizure ex parte, meaning BYD had no opportunity to challenge it beforehand. An independent, court-appointed custodian retained the files, which were never handed directly to JLR. BYD later challenged the scope of the seizure, arguing that it also covered unrelated proprietary research and development records.
The court found that JLR did not need the files to support its design claims. It also considered them unnecessary for calculating potential damages because BYD had not yet sold the Ti 7 in the European Union. The ruling lifts the evidence seizure but does not decide whether the SUV infringes JLR’s intellectual property rights.
Court rejects JLR’s penalty claim against BYD
The judge also rejected JLR’s demand for 500,000 euros (553,850 USD) in penalty payments from BYD, finding provisionally that the Chinese automaker had complied with the original seizure order.
JLR must also provide BYD with independent confirmation that the files have been destroyed within 24 hours of their destruction. Neither JLR nor the custodian, or any other party outside BYD, may retain access to the records.
The court barred JLR from taking further enforcement action under the original seizure authorisation. A breach carries a separate penalty of 500,000 euros (553,850 USD). BYD was ordered to pay 25,376.57 euros (28,110 USD) in legal costs. The ruling is immediately enforceable, even if appealed.
The underlying Defender design dispute remains open
Dutch news agency ANP, in a report carried by Nieuws.nl, reported that JLR has initiated separate proceedings: a claim over the Defender’s EU design rights in The Hague, and copyright and slavish-imitation claims in Rotterdam.
Under EU rules, an unregistered design receives three years of protection from its first qualifying public disclosure in the bloc. A registered EU design can be renewed in five-year periods for up to 25 years. JLR previously lost separate bids to register three-dimensional shape trademarks for the Range Rover Evoque in the EU and the classic Defender silhouette in the UK.
In 2019, JLR won an intellectual property case against Jiangling Motor Corporation over the Landwind X7, which resembled the Range Rover Evoque.
BYD Ti 7 UK launch and pricing
The decision comes as BYD prepares to launch the Ti 7 in the UK. The company has confirmed a single specification, the seven-seat Excellence AWD, priced at £47,995 (63,660 USD). Showroom arrivals are scheduled for November 2026, with customer deliveries expected in January 2027.
The UK model pairs a 1.5-litre turbocharged petrol engine with two electric motors for a combined 300 kW (402 hp). Its 35.6 kWh LFP Blade battery provides a claimed WLTP electric range of 119 km (74 miles), and BYD quotes a 0–100 km/h acceleration time of 4.8 seconds.
That price is £23,845 (31,630 USD) below the £71,840 Defender 110 P300e plug-in hybrid listed on Land Rover’s UK website.
In China, the five-seat Fang Cheng Bao Tai 7 plug-in hybrid launched in September 2025 from 179,800 to 219,800 yuan (26,955–32,952 USD). An all-electric version followed in April 2026, priced from 199,800 to 239,800 yuan (29,953–35,950 USD). The Fang Cheng Bao Tai 7 reached 300,000 cumulative sales on October 30, according to Fang Cheng Bao general manager Xiong Tianbo.
