Wahaha won't sue over Qiulin kvass attack ads

Zong Qinghou, chairman and general manager of Zhejiang Province-based food and beverage giant Wahaha, confirmed with the Global Times Tuesday morning that the company has no plans to take legal action against Qiulin Kvass Beverage Co, which claimed late last week that Wahaha has been "copycatting" its signature drink.

"Qiulin should work hard to improve the quality of its products, rather than creating hype online by attacking Wahaha," Zong said. "We would rather spend our money and effort on research and development, not on filing a lawsuit to fight Qiulin's advertisements."

Qiulin, based in Harbin, Northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, calls kvass, a popular Eastern European drink made from fermented bread, its signature beverage. But Hangzhou-based Wahaha started producing its own kvass drink earlier this year.

Qiulin published four advertisements on its official Sina Weibo account last Friday, implying that Wahaha's kvass drink is inauthentic and copied from Qiulin's kvass. The advertisements, addressed only to "Wa," said that original kvass should not be made by "adding a little malt" or "mixing with apple juice," and asked "Wa" to "at least put some ­effort into making the copycat."

Zong told the Global Times that Wahaha ferments fungus instead of bread to make its kvass because the drink is "more nutritious and tasteful" that way.

Zong denied that its beverage lacks authenticity.

Qiulin was not available to comment as of late Tuesday, saying its top management will be away on a business trip until Thursday.

According to­ Chongqing-based Business magazine, Qiulin produced 5,000 tons of kvass in 2009 and commanded a 90 percent market share in Heilong­jiang, Jilin and Liaoning provinces.

But with Wahaha competing in the kvass market, Qiulin's position has been threatened because Wahaha has better sales channels, Jilin-base news portal xwh.cn reported Tuesday citing industry insiders.