Dutch Court Orders JLR to Destroy Files Seized From BYD Offices
A court in The Hague has told Jaguar Land Rover to destroy files seized from BYD's Dutch offices within 24 hours of service or pay up to 500,000 euros. The preliminary ruling lifts the seizure but leaves the Defender design dispute unresolved.
A Dutch court orders Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) to destroy files seized from BYD's offices in the Netherlands, in a preliminary ruling issued on November 11 at the District Court of The Hague. If JLR is late, it faces a penalty of 50,000 euros (55,385 USD) per hour, capped at 500,000 euros (553,850 USD).
JLR must instruct the bailiff or court-appointed custodian to destroy the files within 24 hours after formal service of the ruling. The ruling is immediately enforceable, even if JLR appeals.
Seizure overturned
Judge H.F.R. van Heemstra overturned an August evidence seizure of internal records taken from BYD offices in Schiedam and Hoofddorp. JLR had obtained the seizure after alleging that the BYD Ti 7 copied the exterior design of the Land Rover Defender. It also suspected BYD of reverse-engineering the SUV.
The court had authorized the seizure without hearing BYD first. An independent custodian held the files, and they were never handed directly to JLR. BYD later argued that the seizure also swept in unrelated research and development records.
The judge found JLR did not need the files to support its design claims. She also found them unnecessary for calculating damages, because BYD has not yet sold the Ti 7 in the European Union.
Penalty claim rejected
The judge also rejected JLR's demand for 500,000 euros in penalty payments from BYD. She found, provisionally, that BYD had complied with the original seizure order.
JLR must give BYD independent confirmation that the files are destroyed within 24 hours of their destruction. Neither JLR, the custodian nor anyone outside BYD may keep access to the records.
The court barred JLR from further enforcement under the original authorization, with a separate penalty of 500,000 euros for a breach. BYD was ordered to pay 25,376.57 euros (28,110 USD) in legal costs.
Main dispute still open
The ruling does not decide whether the SUV infringes JLR's intellectual property rights. JLR has started separate proceedings: a claim over the Defender's EU design rights in The Hague, and copyright and slavish-imitation claims in Rotterdam, according to Dutch news agency ANP.
Under EU rules, an unregistered design gets 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.
UK launch approaches
BYD is preparing to launch the Ti 7 in the UK in 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 battery gives a claimed electric range of 119 km (74 miles). That price is £23,845 (31,630 USD) below the £71,840 listed on Land Rover's UK website for the Defender 110 P300e plug-in hybrid.
