(Yicai) July 31 -- A major local dealer of China’s Red Bull Vitamin Drink has won a lawsuit against Thailand's TCP Group, marking the latest development in an eight-year intellectual property battle.

A court in central China’s Changsha rejected all the claims that TCP, the owner of popular Thai energy drinks such as Warrior, brought against Huaxia Sugar and Wine in 2021, the Chinese producer announced on WeChat yesterday.

The court’s ruling has not yet come into force and is not executable, Bangkok-based TCP said in a statement today, adding that it will appeal to protect its interests and rights.

One of the key points in the long dispute between the former allies has been whether the pair agreed to share the trademark for 20 or 50 years. In 2022, a court in Guangdong province ruled that Red Bull Vitamin has the exclusive right to sell Red Bull-branded beverages in China. However, in 2020, China's highest court said that TCP is the owner of the Red Bull trademark, and the license for Red Bull Vitamin to use it expired in 2016.

Red Bull Vitamin stated after the 2020 ruling that it would appeal the verdict, and that its major shareholder Reignwood Group would apply for international arbitration.

The history of Red Bull in China is long. In 1993, TCP founder Chaleo Yoovidhya visited Hainan province to produce beverages locally, and in 1995, he joined hands with Reignwood founder Yan Bin to set up Red Bull Vitamin, obtaining a production license.

The legal dispute is still unresolved and major Red Bull dealers in China are controlled by Reignwood so TCP aims to gain the upper hand by cracking down on them, Zhu Danpeng, deputy director of the Guangdong Food Safety Promotion Association, told Yicai.

Formed in 1992, Huaxia is a big distributor, with annual sales of Red Bull drinks totaling over CNY200 million (USD27.6 million), Yicai learned.

Editors: Dou Shicong, Emmi Laine