Signalling the end of a short-lived truce, Wahaha Group says negotiations to settle disputes with estranged joint-venture partner Groupe Danone have almost collapsed after a Swedish court ruled in favour of the Hangzhou-based beverage company.
Wahaha founder and chairman Zong Qinghou said by phone yesterday that the ruling had boosted the company's confidence and it would resort to legal judgments to resolve trademark disputes.
An arbitration tribunal in Stockholm last Friday rejected Danone's requests for interim measures to prevent Wahaha and Mr Zong from increasing production capacity at firms outside of their ventures or setting up new ones, according to a statement released by Wahaha.
The panel also rejected Danone's demand that any goods made by Wahaha on its own must be sold through the joint ventures, but it granted Danone the right to access all premises at all of the ventures, the statement said. The requests were filed by Danone in October last year.
'As both sides have almost ceased talks, we will wait for the court to resolve the disputes,' said Mr Zong, adding that Danone initiated the arbitration procedure in Stockholm.
A Danone spokeswoman declined to comment on whether Danone initiated the court case, but said the talks were ongoing as far as she knew.
