BYD offices in the Netherlands raided after digital records seized in August
Key Facts
Bailiffs seized digital records from BYD offices in Schiedam and Hoofddorp in the Netherlands in August, acting on behalf of Jaguar Land Rover, the Guardian reported on November 8, citing the Sunday Times. The move came ahead of a hearing scheduled in The Hague during the week the report was published, to consider whether JLR has grounds to pursue its allegation that BYD’s Ti 7 sport utility vehicle infringes Land Rover Defender intellectual property rights. No final ruling has been issued in the case, according to the report. JLR said it wanted to secure the digital records for fear they could be destroyed before the court considered the matter. The case puts the intellectual property infringement allegation before the court, while the reverse-engineering report remains a suspicion attributed to JLR.
The legal move centers on securing records before the court considers whether the claim can proceed, rather than on a final ruling on BYD’s liability. The Guardian quoted JLR as saying it wanted to preserve the data "before it was destroyed." The report says the company suspects BYD reverse-engineered some technology that could be used in the Ti 7, a suspicion attributed to JLR and not an established judicial finding. JLR and BYD said they would not comment on ongoing legal proceedings. The report did not provide either company’s detailed position on the substance of the allegation.
The dispute comes as BYD prepares to bring the Ti 7 to the UK market. The company said the first cars would arrive in showrooms in November 2026, with customer deliveries due to begin in January 2027. According to specifications BYD announced on July 31, the vehicle accelerates from zero to 62 miles per hour in 4.8 seconds and has a top speed of 118 miles per hour. Those specifications place the vehicle in competition with the Defender, but the lawsuit concerns intellectual property rights and is not a ruling that the vehicle is a copy. The delivery date comes months after the raid the report said took place in August.
Prices for the seven-seat Defender 110 in the UK start at £68,465, according to the Guardian. In sales, JLR sold about 29,500 Defender vehicles to retail customers between July and September 2026, compared with 25,370 in the same period a year earlier. That provides commercial context for the brand at the center of the dispute, without changing the nature of the legal question the Hague court will consider. JLR previously won a case in 2019 to prevent Jiangling Motor Corporation from selling a vehicle it said was a copy, after a three-year legal battle. The current case remains separate from that precedent, as it concerns an allegation against BYD over the Ti 7.
BYD expanded in the UK during the same period as it prepared to launch the Ti 7. Its vehicle registrations in September 2026 reached about 20,140, compared with 11,271 in September 2025, while its share of new-car registrations rose to 5.75% from 3.60%, according to data from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders. In the plug-in hybrid segment, registrations rose 55.5% year on year to 59,571 vehicles in September, compared with 38,308 a year earlier, and the market share reached 17.0% from 12.2%. BYD also said its annual sales of new energy vehicles reached 4.6 million units in 2025. These figures provide context for the company’s presence in the UK market, while the court’s expected decision remains focused on whether JLR’s claim over Defender intellectual property can proceed.