(Yicai Global) Feb. 28 -- Geely Holdings has rejected Changan Auto’s claim of infringed intellectual property rights following last week’s release of Geely’s new Galaxy model.

Geely said in a post on its Sina Weibo account that the new model known as Galaxy Light is its original design, and there has been no plagiarism or infringement of Changan’s IP rights.

Yesterday, Changan Auto instructed a law firm to send a legal letter to Geely, saying that the Galaxy Light prototype is similar to Changan Auto’s concept car and products. The Chongqing-based automaker said it suspects infringement of its IP and asked Geely to desist.

Geely unveiled the Galaxy brand on Feb. 23, with the prototype Galaxy Light and the first model Galaxy L7, a plug-in hybrid sport utility vehicle. Chen Zheng made his first public appearance as Geely vice president of design at the press conference. He joined Hangzhou-based Geely in March 2022 after 20 years at Changan, where he was global design director before resigning in December 2021.

Industry analysts said that the flow of talent is normal in the automotive world, and executives usually sign a non-compete agreement before moving on to different companies. In addition, the Galaxy model is only a prototype, not the final mass production version, and Geely has not made any profit from it, so even if a court heard the case it would probably not rule that there had been any infringement, they added.

In September last year, Geely won a lawsuit against the WM Motor EX5 for copying some designs from Geely Vision SUV models, and WM Motor was ordered to pay Geely and Geely Automobile Research Institute CNY7 million (USD1 million). It was also ordered to stop using five auto part drawings used on EX5 models.

In today’s announcement, Geely said that as a Chinese automobile enterprise it respects the protection of originality and IP rights. Senior Vice President Yang Xueliang said in a statement that frims should respect the rules of fair play instead of attacking each other.

Editor: Tom Litting