Groupe Danone said on Monday that requests brought by Wahaha's
trade union in its latest lawsuit against the French food group had
no legal ground.
Danone said in a statement that it had not received a court
notice on the suit, but it was ready to respond by legal means.
Wahaha's trade union filed the suit against Groupe Danone and
its two subsidiaries on December 6 in the eastern province of
Shandong. It claimed the company had damaged the interests of
Wahaha workers by holding shares and appointing the same board
directors in the competitors of the Danone-Wahaha joint venture. It
had also damaged Wahaha's reputation in the media.
The union asked Danone to stop holding shares in the
non-Wahaha-Danone joint ventures and asked for 10 million yuan
($1.35 million) compensation.
The Intermediate People's court of Weifang City in Shandong
sealed the assets of the two joint ventures - the Weifang Wahaha
Beverage Limited Company and Weifang Wahahah Food Limited Company -
that were estimated to be worth 9.18 million yuan.
Danone's two subsidiaries are shareholders of the two Weifang
companies.
It was the first time Wahaha had pointed directly to Groupe
Danone in its lawsuits related to the trademark disputes with its
French partner since April.
The Hangzhou-based Chinese beverage producer sued Dannone's
director of the joint venture board and won two lawsuits in
Hangzhou and Guilin, south China, earlier this month.
Li Su, Wahaha's spokesperson, said Wahaha had not ruled out
further legal action against Danone.
"If negotiations worsen, we don't rule out the possibility that
we will take the same actions in other Wahaha-Danone joint
ventures," Li said.
Danone expressed its wish in Monday's statement to solve the
dispute through negotiations. It called on all parties involved not
to take any further actions to intensify the dispute.
"We always hold that to solve disputes through negotiations are
in line with the benefits of all parties, including all Wahaha
employees. We believe we can realize this goal though there are
lots of difficulties," it said.
Danone, which owns a 51-percent stake in 39 Danone-Wahaha joint
ventures, accused Wahaha of setting up independent companies and
selling products identical to those sold by the joint venture.
Danone had demanded a 51-percent stake in the non-joint venture
companies, which Wahaha rejected.
Since mid-year, the two companies have filed numerous complaints
and lawsuits against each other in various Chinese and foreign
jurisdictions.
Danone filed its first lawsuit against Wahaha on May 9 in
Stockholm. On June 4, Danone filed suit in Los Angeles against two
Wahaha-related companies and two individuals.
Also that month, Wahaha filed a request with the arbitration
commission in the eastern Chinese city of Hangzhou over the
disputed trademark transfer.
It had also lodged suits in Shenyang and Changchun against
Danone executives Emmanuel Faber who replaced Zong Qinghou as chief
of the 39 joint ventures, Qin Peng, China director for Danone Asia,
and Francois Caquelin, a financial director. It claimed they had
breached company law or damaged the interests of the Danone-Wahaha
joint venture.
ln July, Danone filed a counterclaim against Wahaha, alleging
the company had failed to transfer trademarks to their joint
venture under an agreement reached in 1996 when their cooperation
started.
Danone and Wahaha negotiated for another round before French
President Nicolas Sarkozy visited China late last month. The talks,
however, were fruitless.
(Xinhua News Agency December 18, 2007)
