Jaguar Land Rover Alleges Patent Infringement From VAG
Imitation might be the sincerest form of flattery, but according to Jaguar Land Rover, it’s also patent infringement.
Thanks to today’s SUV and crossover-crazed market landscape, the F-PACE has quickly become the best-selling vehicle in Jaguar’s lineup. Now, most pricy sport utility vehicles don’t venture anywhere more hazardous than a crowded Whole Foods parking lot. But buyers still like knowing that they’re able to tackle all kinds of conditions, and the ability to traverse tricky terrain is at the heart of Jaguar Land Rover’s recent request to halt the import of competitors from Volkswagen Auto Group. Details come from the Detroit News, which late last week wrote:
Jaguar Land Rover Automotive Plc asked a U.S. trade agency to block imports of Volkswagen Group’s Porsche, Lamborghini, Audi and Volkswagen SUVs it says are using its patented Terrain Response system without permission.
Jaguar Land Rover, which is owned by India’s Tata Motors Ltd., said in a filing with the U.S. International Trade Commission that the technology helps negotiate a “broad range of surfaces” and is a key feature in Jaguar’s F-Pace and Land Rover Discovery vehicles.
According to JLR, the technology in question “automatically allows your Land Rover model to monitor your road and weather conditions, and then adjust the way the vehicle handles on the road.” So it’s kind of like automatic wipers, if automatic wipers allowed your grocery getter to seamlessly transition from traversing city streets to fording deep sand.
At this point, there has been no comment from representatives from VAG, but given that the Porsche Cayenne, Lamborghini’s Urus, Volkswagen Tiguan, and a slew of Audi models could be impacted by the move, the Germans have a lot at stake in this fight. According to the Detroit News article motioned above, lawyers representing Bentley — whose Bentayga shares its platform with the Audi Q7 — have already challenged JLR’s patent in court and been ruled against.
That case is currently under appeal, but it stands to reason that if courts continue to side with JLR, some compensation will be in order, either via damages, or potentially from licensing fees. Given the immense of stress the ongoing coronavirus pandemic is putting on the automotive industry, along with the threat of fallout from Brexit, it probably wouldn’t be a bad thing if JLR was able to score a share of the revenue from VAG’s profitable SUV lineup.
Since the legal system often seems to move at a glacial pace, it might be some time before we have any answers regarding what, if anything, VAG is liable for here. But I’ll be keeping my eyes peeled for news, so stay tuned!
Photos: Jaguar