Wahaha wins latest court victory, Danone to appeal
6 August 2008
A Hangzhou Intermediate People's Court ruled that Chinese soft-drink maker Wahaha, not its former French business partner Danone, is the rightful owner of the Wahaha trademark, AFP reported. The court's ruling endorsed a December 2007 Hangzhou arbitration decision. A Danone spokesman said the French firm plans to pursue the case at a higher court. The bitter legal dispute stems from Danone's discovery last year that Wahaha had set up entire production and distribution networks running parallel to a number of joint ventures between the two firms. A new cooperation plan put forward by Danone was rejected by Wahaha in March.