In March Land Rover of the United Kingdom sued the Trademark Review and Adjudication Board of China (TRAB), requesting the latter to determine the squatting of the “陆虎” (LUHU) trademark by Geely and cancel the registration of this trademark. Geely participated in the proceedings as a third party.

Land Rover complained that Geely maliciously applied for a tredemark for “陆虎” (LUHU), a transliteration of “Landrover” in 1999. However, the registration was granted by TRAB in 2001. This had led to a disorderly state in the automotive industry and confusion among consumers over the LANDROVER brand. Landrover argued that the act was forbidden by law and the registered trademark should be cancelled. Land Rover also provided news reports by Economic Daily and others in 1997, to prove its earlier access to the Chinese market.

Regarding the complaint, the representative of TRAB noted that Land Rover should prove that it had used the “陆虎” mark on its own initiative, rather than as a transliteration of LANDROVER. Geely also argued that news reports were unable to prove that before Geely had the “陆虎” mark registered, Land Rover had translated LANDROVER into “陆虎” and applied the same in the automotive industry.