Fiat Chrysler on Monday received a second chance to permanently block US sales of redesigned Roxor off-road vehicles made by Indian car maker Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd, which is fighting claims that it copied Fiat Chrysler’s Jeep design.
The 6th US Circuit Court of Appeals said a Detroit federal court applied the wrong standard when it found that Mahindra’s post-2020 Roxors were unlikely to cause consumer confusion.
A spokesperson for Mahindra said it was confident that the outcome of the case will be “consistent with the previous rulings” in its favour.
Fiat Chrysler’s parent company Stellantis NV declined to comment on the decision.
Fiat Chrysler sued Mahindra in Michigan court and at the US International Trade Commission in 2018 over its Roxor design, arguing it copied trademark-protected elements of its Jeeps.
A Detroit federal court blocked Mahindra from selling pre-2020 Roxors but rejected its bid to block sales of its redesigned version of the off-road-only vehicle.
US District Judge Gershwin Drain’s decision was based on an ITC ruling that the Roxor did not infringe Chrysler’s trademark rights because the average person would “know immediately” from looking at it that it is not a Jeep.