There's an old saying that "justice is blind," an adage which has taken a literal meaning thanks to a Greek court's decision to dismiss Daimler's lawsuit against a Chinese copy of the Smart fortwo.
This effectively ends a long legal battle which started when Daimler blocked Shuanghuan from displaying the Noble at the Bologna Motor Show in 2007. Although the car was later allowed to go on sale in Europe in early 2008, Daimler kept up the pressure which resulted in Shuanghuan marketing the Noble under the slogan "Smarter than the rest".
The Greek court determined that "an informed buyer would not confuse the Noble with the Smart Fortwo." They also stated that because the two vehicles offer different technical specifications, any exterior styling similarities are irrelevant and almost inevitable because they're both mini-cars. The courts said that if a vehicle varies in its technical specification, then any external similarities are irrelevant. To that end, China Motors, the company which imports the Noble in Europe, claims that the front-engined, front-wheel-drive Noble with seating for four in no way imitates the rear-engined, rear-wheel-drive, two-seater Fortwo.
Although the case looked promising for Daimler early on, a Milan court ruling in mid-December 2008 in favor of Shuanghuan in the BMW case seemed to have put the nail in Daimler's coffin. The court found that visual and price differences between BMW's X5 and Shuanghuan CEO were enough to prevent consumers from confusing the two. After winning the case against BMW, Shuanghuan resumed the sale of its CEO SUV in Italy.
source: Greek court rules against Daimler on China SUV - China automotive news
