(Yicai) March 11 -- Luckin Coffee has won its trademark infringement case against Thailand’s Royal 50R Group, in a landmark ruling that is a rare example of a large amount of compensation being awarded in a Thai copyright dispute and which will help advance the Chinese coffee chain’s efforts to expand internationally.

The Central Intellectual Property and International Trade Court of Thailand ruled that Luckin Coffee holds prior and superior rights to the trademark that was under dispute and awarded it over THB46 million (USD1.3 million) in damages and legal costs, Luckin Coffee said on microblogging site Weibo yesterday.

The court also ordered the revocation of Royal 50R’s registered Luckin Coffee trademarks and permanently barred the Bangkok-based firm, which deals in retail, new energy, tourism and other sectors, from using Luckin Coffee’s brand name both in English and Chinese, and from using its iconic deer-head logo.

The dispute dates back to January 2022 when Luckin Coffee posted a video on social media saying that netizens had reported finding Luckin Coffee outlets in Thailand. The stores' logo, interior decor, coffee cups and even the shopping bags were the same as the ones in China, with the only difference being that the deer in the logo was flipped sideways.

In August that year, Luckin Coffee said that it didn’t have any stores in Thailand and that the ones in the video were counterfeit. The firm’s team has already taken legal action to protect its rights, it added. Luckin Coffee sued Royal 50R over copyright infringement, but it lost the case in December 2023.

Last year, Luckin Coffee relaunched its case and this time round, supported by Southeast Asian law firm Tilleke & Gibbins, the company prevailed. The damages awarded were unusually high for a Thai trademark dispute, the Bangkok-based law firm said yesterday.

Editor: Kim Taylor