Conflict over Gompyo Wheat Beer Intensifies... SevenBrew and Daehan Flour Dispute 'Technology Theft'

SevenBrewery Files Complaint Against Daehan Flour with Fair Trade Commission
Daehan Flour Responds to False Claims, Produces with Independent Recipes

The conflict between SevenBrewery, the manufacturer of 'Gompyo Wheat Beer,' and Daehan Flour Mills, the trademark owner, is intensifying. SevenBrewery claimed that Daehan Flour Mills' 'Gompyo Wheat Beer Season 2' product is identical to the Gompyo Wheat Beer previously manufactured by SevenBrewery, but Daehan Flour Mills denied this and warned that it would hold them legally responsible for spreading false information.

Gompyo Wheat Beer made by Seven Bro (left) and Gompyo Wheat Beer made by Jeju Beer

According to the liquor industry on the 20th, SevenBrewery filed a provisional injunction to ban the sale of Gompyo Wheat Beer in court last month and subsequently filed a complaint against Daehan Flour Mills with the Fair Trade Commission on the 15th.

SevenBrewery alleged that Daehan Flour Mills interfered with its business activities by transferring SevenBrewery's technology to a competitor. After terminating the contract with SevenBrewery, Daehan Flour Mills decided to collaborate with another manufacturer, Jeju Beer, to release Gompyo Wheat Beer Season 2, and the Season 2 product is said to be identical to the product previously made in collaboration with SevenBrewery.

Additionally, SevenBrewery claimed that around April last year, Daehan Flour Mills notified them of plans to export Gompyo Wheat Beer directly overseas, and fearing contract termination, SevenBrewery had no choice but to transfer all export business to Daehan Flour Mills. They argue that after Gompyo Wheat Beer achieved great success, Daehan Flour Mills abused its trading position during the contract period to unfairly seize the export business.

Daehan Flour Mills immediately issued a statement in response. Daehan Flour Mills stated, "The re-released Gompyo Wheat Beer is produced with an independent recipe from a new partner," and added, "The claim that the recipe is identical to the previous one (by SevenBrewery) is completely unreasonable and untrue."

Regarding the criticism that the packaging is the same, they explained, "The unique design of Gompyo Wheat Beer is owned by Daehan Flour Mills," and "The claims of 'design theft or plagiarism' raised by SevenBrewery do not correspond to the facts."

Concerning the export business issue, Daehan Flour Mills rebutted, "The export of Gompyo Wheat Beer cannot proceed without the permission of Daehan Flour Mills, the trademark owner, so the claim that Daehan Flour Mills took away SevenBrewery's export business cannot be established."

Gompyo Wheat Beer is a hit product launched in May 2020 by SevenBrewery and Daehan Flour Mills, with 58.5 million cans sold since its release. When the trademark use contract ended in April, SevenBrewery changed the name of the original Gompyo Wheat Beer to Representative Wheat Beer and also changed the product design from a bear to a tiger character.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.