Fiat fires back at Great Wall Motors’ spy claims

Fiat responded Monday to Great Wall Motors' accusation that it infringed on commercial secrets, claiming that it never copied or imitated vehicles of Great Wall Motors and hasn't received any legal documents.

In the middle of this month, domestic independent brand Great Wall Motors alleged that Fiat, a competitor, pretended to be a Great Wall Motors client or used other identities to enter its R&D base by the way of commercial spying, taking away information related to Great Wall Motors'  first concept car called GWPERI.

However, earlier in June 2007, Fiat filed a lawsuit in the Intermediate People's Court of Shijiazhuang, capital city of Hebei Province, saying Great Wall's GWPERI had infringed the Italian carmaker's design with Great Wall's Panda car and demanded the vehicle not be sold in the global market which included China.

In December 2008, the Hebei Higher People's Court made the final judgment on the case, saying that the plaintiff's case had insufficient evidence and it rejected Fiat's arguments. However, in Italy, Great Wall Motors was found to have infringed on Fiat, and the GWPERI was not allowed to be sold in the European Zone.

Agencies and Wang Yang contributed to this story