(Xinhua)
Updated: 2007-12-18 10:27

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.

Special Coverage: Wahaha vs Danone Related readings:  Union files case against Danone  Wahaha dispute not over yet Danone to appeal after losing dispute to Wahaha

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.

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