(Yicai Global) Feb. 8 -- Great Wall Motor Co. has rejected allegations of patent infringement in a suit Japan's Honda Motor Co. brought, saying that it owns all independent intellectual property rights to its products and will actively respond to the legal process, Legal Weekly reported.

The Beijing Intellectual Property Court accepted the lawsuit Honda filed against Great Wall Motor and co-defendant Beijing Boshilian Auto Sales Center over the Haval H6 cars Great Wall Motor manufactured and sold. The amount in controversy is over CNY20 million (USD3.2 million), the court stated Jan. 31.

Honda is the patentee of two invention patents styled 'Vehicle Rear Door Structure (No.: 200710008273.0)' and 'Installation Structure of Vehicle's Decorations (No.: 200710161631.1),' it alleged. The rear door and decorative installation structures of the updated-version of Great Wall Motor's black Haval H6 (vehicle No.: LGWEF4A56FF064336) violate its patent rights, Honda claimed. Great Wall Motor's manufacture, sale and offer to sell Haval H6 and Boshilian's sale and offer to sell Haval H6 constitute infringement, and the two must cease their unlawful conduct, compensate Honda's losses and assume other civil liability per law, Honda argued.

Whether Haval H6 infringes Honda's rights must be determined by comparing Haval H6 to Honda's cars based not on appearance, but by reference to the technologies for which Honda demands protection, said Du Xiujun, an intellectual property lawyer with Beijing Xuan Yan Law Firm. If the Haval H6's technology incorporates Honda's patent technology en masse, then it will be deemed infringing, per the principle of 'full coverage.' If, however, the Haval H6's technology does not completely incorporate Honda's patents, but the two are not substantially dissimilar, this will also constitute infringement under the 'doctrine of equivalents.' Honda will not sustain its claims if proves unable to satisfy either of these tests, Du explained.