Five-Year Copyright Issue with Jaguar C-Type Resolved

When a retired Swedish car designer called Karl Magnusson built a replica of the famous Jaguar C-Type, he was not expecting a long legal battle, one that brought him close to personal bankruptcy.

His decision to create his own C-Type was not made in secret, and he actually used many original drawings that Jaguar had shared with previous replica builders. All was going well until Magnusson told Jaguar Classic, that apart from his own car, he was going to build at least two other replicas that he was going to sell to fund the project.

This is where things got litigious. Failing to discard his plan of building more C-Type replica’s, Magnusson was sued by JLR for copyright infringement in 2018, shortly after he completed his car.

Magnusson was ordered by the court to both pay substantial costs but alsoat the behest of the Swedish court - to destroy his replica.

JLR denies it directly demanded Magnusson’s replica be destroyed, but also says that the fact more than one car was going to be made meant the project was a commercial endeavour that was effectively competing against Jaguar Classic; and that it reserves the right to protect against those intending to infringe copyright for profit.

Magnusson opted to appeal the case and the decision to destroy his car has been reversed. He can now keep his car, but the appeal court also gave JLR full copyright of the C-Type design, something it was denied in the original trial.

It seems that JLR will be now be able to prevent any fresh examples being builtin Europe, at least. Court cost are yet to be awarded and there is still the possibility that JLR might choose to appeal against this appeal and take the battle all the way to Sweden’s Supreme Court. It wasn’t just Magnusson receiving legal paperwork; in Britain, the largest maker of replica C-Type kits, Suffolk Sportscars was sued shortly after the original Swedish case concluded, and subsequently went bankrupt.

Jaguar Sales UP in Q4

JLR have reported that overall sales are up by 30% in Q4 to March 2023. Specifically, Jaguar XE sales were up by 32% and the F-Pace by 46% with all Jaguar sales up by 5.9% dragged down by the I-Pace which is still plagued by computer chip supply problems, with sales down by 27.6%.

JLR UK sales were up in the quarter by 42 per cent in the UK, 47 per cent in Europe, 29 per cent in China, 12 per cent in the US and 29 per cent in other markets. The healthy increase in the number of cars shifted may have made a bit of a dent in JLR’s order book, but it still stands at around 200,000, with 75 per cent of that made up of Range Rover, Range Rover Sport and Defender.

Not surprisingly, Jaguar sales are expected to remain flat as existing models run-down prior to the release of the new models in 2025.

Overall JLR’s general financial trend and position is continually improving, reducing debt (now below £3 billion for the first time in 3 years) and freeing up money for more investments, with a goal of being net cash positive by 2025. .

JLR are not the first car maker to take on this replica issue. Daimler AG have long taken a tough and quite aggressive approach to vehicle replicas. Builders of replica Mercedes 300SL Gullwing have been taken to task by the German Company including replicas that do not even incorporate a Mercedes logo or trademark of the Company.

Ferrari have also taken issue with several businesses producing replicas of models such as the Daytona and GTO, based on the argument that it can devalue the now highly prized original examples. .

Editor: Information for this story sourced from AutoWeek, PistonHeads and the Ipswich Star.

Editor: Information for this story sourced from CARS UK.

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SNG BARRATT HAS LOCATIONS IN THE UNITED KINGDOM, FRANCE, THE NETHERLANDS AND THE USA STOCKED WITH OVER 300,000 CLASSIC AND MODERN JAGUAR CAR PARTS AND ACCESSORIES FOR JAGUAR ENTHUSIASTS ALL OVER THE WORLD.