Bloomberg: Jaguar Seeks to Block U.S. Imports of Porsche, Audi SUVs.

[wemay]

Everything below is c/p from Bloomberg article:

Bloomberg: Jaguar Seeks to Block U.S. Imports of Porsche, Audi SUVs.

Jaguar Seeks to Block U.S. Imports of Porsche, Audi SUVs

You wouldn’t know it was about Jags and Lambos, to judge by its rather dry name: In the Matter of Certain Vehicle Control Systems.

www.bloomberg.com

 

[Zee09]

Wow!

 

[Passport1]

That is really curious. Why would VW et al poach technology from Jaguar/Land Rover, possibly the least reliable vehicles on the planet?

 

[slacktide_bitog]

Jaguars aren't even worth counterfeiting

 

[blingo]

Saviour of the Black Friday – once in a while you gotta love someone more than bobby reliable critique

 

[Vercingetorix]

Jaguar Land Rover bought the breakdown patent from Lucas and now is going to sue any other manufacturer that has a breakdown.

 

[skyactiv]

My dad bought a new Jaguar F Pace and mom drives an Audi A3. My dad is a retired attorney. I will ask him for his take on take on this and respond back.

 

[nicholas]

FREE MARKET........???

 

[ArrestMeRedZ]

Jaguar Land Rover bought the breakdown patent from Lucas and now is going to sue any other manufacturer that has a breakdown.

Did Lucas transfer their title "The Prince of Darkness" with the patent?

 

[pezzy84]

Doesn't pretty much every AWD SUV nowadays have selectable modes (snow, mud, sand, etc.)?

Did VWAG put a mole in the JLR engineering team to steal their technology?

This seems to be a moon shot by JLR that is shaky at best.

 

[wings&wheels]

Interesting. I'll wager there is something to this. Is it all that JLR is alleging? Who knows. Patent litigation is long and very expensive and not undertaken too lightly by legitimate companies (as opposed to patent trolls). JLR is owned by Tata and they are known to have an aggressive legal stance as evidenced by their rather heavy handed brand protection and other actions.

Curious to see how this plays out.

BTW, modern JLR's are not that bad...I've owned several since 2010 and all have been at least on par w/ our domestic SUV's for overall reliability and, expectedly, well beyond in materials, fit and finish. Earlier ones certainly lived up (down?) to their reputation....

 

[2EHA]

JLR’s in trouble and they need money, it’s that simple

Did Lucas transfer their title "The Prince of Darkness" with the patent?

Lucas actually did know what they were doing and did stuff really well, especially in aerospace field and fuel injection tech. When asked to make stuff as cheaply and as fast as possible for BL, they got it done.

 

[grampi]

Jaguar/Rover = overpriced junk...

 

[blingo]

LR certainly needed longer, Jaguar turned upward from BL-times in the eighties. From about 1987 at least there'd been appreciable Ford money in them (still Ser. III!) and while they remained special such statements were nothing but nuisance.

 

[Jake_J]

Sounds like another software centric lawsuit as this patented Terrain Response System is just a continuation of what many automakers have been doing for decades by have a Sport or Winter mode. I remember listening to the interview of a high ranking Google software engineer who essentially said most tech patent lawsuits are worthless as companies and their lawyers know the bar to get a software patent is really low so multiple companies can have many software patents for the same thing. That software engineer detailed how he sat down with a lawyer reviewed some code and they cobbled together around 15 software patents after one sitting. I'd be very surprised if this lawsuit produced anything more than a lot of hot air and large legal bills.

 

[Passport1]

In retrospect I was unnecessarily harsh with my criticism of Jaguar/Land Rover. It may be true that JLR is an unreliable brand compared to other marques and that is fair. However it must be acknowledged that the reliability of a vehicle is just one criteria to judge it by. In my experience having owned several British and Italian cars over the decades generally they tend to be finicky, temperamental and maintenance money pits. For the owners then and now that was, or had to be, an acceptable tradeoff for what was given in return was a joie de vivre unappreciated by drivers of most other brands.

The need for security, conformity and rationality tend to make Jaguars, Alfas, Fiats and the likes best for the young or the old still young at heart.

 

[wpod]

I would buy a Porsche is a heart beat A jag never other than an XK-E just to put a v8 and some wide tires on it as the Jag XK-E is a stunning car.

 

[2EHA]

The need for security, conformity and rationality tend to make Jaguars, Alfas, Fiats and the likes best for the young or the old still young at heart.

Alfa Romeo had a big turnaround once they got picked up by Fiat in the 80s, they’re not any worse than the other europeans on the field. Fiat makes plenty of good cars as well, that’s why they’re at the top of the food chain today.

Same goes for Jag when the blue oval gave them cash, in the mid 2000s they were way ahead of bmw and mb but its gone downhill ever since the breakup.

 

[Hall]

Why would VW et al poach technology from Jaguar/Land Rover, possibly the least reliable vehicles on the planet?

pezzy84 said:
Doesn't pretty much every AWD SUV nowadays have selectable modes (snow, mud, sand, etc.)?

Did VWAG put a mole in the JLR engineering team to steal their technology?

Companies can patent the "concept". Presuming that's the case here, it has nothing to with hardware or physical parts.

 

[ctrcbob]

Picture this:

Company “A”develops a product that ends up doing a specific visual product.

Company “B” then develops a competing product, using a completely different method, completely different components, but ends up with a very similar visual product.

Company “A” sues company “B”.
Company “B” believes they are safe because of the completely different methodology and materials.


Guess what. Company “A” won the law suit. True story. I worked at Company “B” at the time. (We never thought we would lose- shut down production).