Yesterday's meeting in Shanghai No. 2 Intermediate People's Court was the latest installment in their long-running dispute over an alleged infringement of a Honda appearance design patent by one of Lifan's scooters.

Japanese firm Honda claims Lifan's LF125T-2D scooter is too similar to a design covered by one of their patents.

Honda wants Lifan to admit the infringement, make a public apology and compensate 500,000 yuan (US$64,767).

Lifan yesterday denied the charge.

"As we all know, every motorbike has two wheels and one seat," said Lifan's attorney Zhang Li. "Most of the skills needed to make a motorbike are known technologies. Honda only has some special designs for its handlebars, transparent-plastic front light and back end."

Zhang said Lifan's motorbike did not look the same in those three areas as Honda's design patent.

The court heard Honda got the patent in 1994. In 2001, the company bought six of Lifan's disputed motorbikes as evidence.

Honda then sent several letters to Lifan, asking it to stop the infringement, Honda's attorney Huang Jianguo said.

Before this court case, Honda and Lifan had argued over whether Honda's patent was valid. In 2003 the Beijing Higher People's Court ruled the patent is valid.

"According to our calculations, Lifan has made at least 16 million yuan in profit from the disputed motorbike," Huang told the court.

He said the Honda-like design is a major selling point.

Lifan said it has not made a profit on the bike.

"The scooter is a small one only sold to females for about 3,000 yuan. It doesn't have a big market," Zhang said.

The court did not announce a verdict.

In September 2005, a Beijing court ordered Lifan to stop selling and exporting "Hongda" brand motorcycles after a lawsuit by Honda.

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