Danone dismisses legal grounds of Wahaha union request
Updated: 2007-12-18 10:27
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.
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