Previously, the dispute between the French Group Danone SA and its Chinese joint venture partner Wahaha Group was described. To remind, it resulted in Danone’s filing legal action against Ever Maple Trading Ltd., based in the British Virgin Islands. Later on, there was the counter-claim of Hangzhou Wahaha Group, the Chinese Group, which sued Danone for up to 5 billion euros for illegal business conduct. Just recently, the dispute escalated as assets of 8 BVI-registered companies were frozen at the request of Danone.
On December 10, Hangzhou Wahaha Group said that it had won a conflict-of-interest lawsuit against one of the French yogurt maker’s executives. This probably suggested a victory in the dispute with the French food giant’s business in China.
Accordin to Hangzhou Wahaha Group, François Caquelin named by Danone to the board of a venture with Wahaha participated in unfair competition as he sat on the boards of rivals – so he represented to sides. Similar claims will be considered against Emmanuel Faber who runs Danone’s operations in Asia, and Qin Peng who runs Danone’s operations in China.
A lawyer with Paul Hastings, Alex Wang, said that Danone’s joint ventures with Wahaha could lose what is the most important – the Wahaha trademark, which is a big victory for Wahaha.
Danone, having 51% of 39 ventures with Wahaha, expressed its shock caused by the ruling. It also explained that François Caquelin’s appointments were with related companies and they followed common practice in China. Also, Danone has accused entities related to the Wahaha chairman of unauthorized use of the Wahaha trademark.
The Chinese company, in turn, says it retains the brand because the agreement giving Danone trademark control violated Chinese law.