Mahindra & Mahindra on Friday said a judge of the US International Trade Commission (ITC) has found that its off-road vehicle Roxor violated Fiat Chrysler Automobile's (FCA) Jeep 'trade dress' and recommended an exclusion order prohibiting import and sale of any already imported parts of the vehicle.
The homegrown auto major further said that FCA has filed a counterclaim in the proceeding filed by it before the Eastern District Court of Michigan, seeking a permanent injunction on manufacture or sales of the Roxor, as well as disgorgement of any profits made by the Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) from sales of the vehicle.
"If FCA succeeds in getting a permanent injunction, then Mahindra Automotive North America, a subsidiary of the company, will no longer be able to sell Roxors in the US," M&M said in a regulatory filing.
On the US ITC order, the company said "the Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) has, in his initial determination, found that while the design of the Roxor vehicle does not violate any of FCA's registered trademarks, it violated FCA's trade dress and recommended an exclusion order prohibiting the importation of Roxor parts and a cease-and-desist order prohibiting sale of any already imported Roxor parts."
When contacted, a company spokesperson said, "...until this case, FCA had never defined what it believes to be the 'Jeep Trade Dress' or identified it as a business asset in any filings (bankruptcy or otherwise)."
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