Danone to drop suits if Wahaha returns to negotiating table

French food giant Danone yesterday offered to drop all legal action against the Hangzhou Wahaha Group if its mainland partner agreed to negotiate seriously to settle their dispute on a joint venture.

The offer came just a couple of days after a Hangzhou arbitration court ruled that Wahaha, the venture's 49 per cent minority owner, owned the brand because Danone had failed to file a lawsuit within a reasonable time to settle the dispute.

Danone lawyers said on Tuesday that the company would appeal against the ruling.

Danone and Wahaha formed a joint venture in 1996. The French company owned a 51 per cent stake and signed an agreement in which Wahaha was to transfer its brand to the venture.

Wahaha president and chairman Zong Qinghou, however, claimed the deal was invalid as the State Trademark Office had rejected the brand transfer application in a bid to protect the domestic company.

Emmanuel Faber, Danone's Asia-Pacific president, said the company would suspend all legal proceedings against Wahaha if the latter agreed to return to the negotiation table and deal with the transfer issue.

'We need concrete action to be taken [towards] an appropriate process of negotiations on the unification of the Wahaha brand ... we are serious about trying to get everyone around the table.'