Luckin Coffee Prevails in Five‑Year Thailand Trademark Battle as Court Orders Cancellation and Heavy Damages

On July 27, 2026, Luckin Coffee officially announced that its trademark infringement lawsuit in Thailand had reached a final and binding victory. On July 8, the Thai Special Case Court of Appeal rendered its final judgment, finding that the Thai Royal 50R Group’s malicious pre-emptive registration of Luckin’s trademarks and operation of counterfeit stores constituted infringement. The court ordered the defendant to cease using the relevant trademarks, cancel its illegally registered marks, change its corporate name, and pay total compensation exceeding 95 million Thai Baht (approximately RMB 19.18 million).

The origins of this dispute trace back to 2018. The Thai Royal 50R Group was the first to apply in Thailand for the registration of the "LUCKIN COFFEE," "瑞幸咖啡" (Ruixing Coffee), and the deer-head graphic marks, and obtained registration in 2020. Subsequently, the group opened numerous coffee stores across Thailand, with store decorations, product packaging, and logo designs (merely reversing the deer-head direction and adding Thai script) that closely resembled those of authentic Luckin stores, causing a substantial number of consumers to mistakenly believe that Luckin had entered the Thai market.

Luckin Coffee formally filed its lawsuit in October 2021, with its core claim seeking to invalidate the pre-emptively registered trademarks. In 2022, the Central Intellectual Property and International Trade Court of Thailand (hereinafter "IP&IT Court") ruled in favor of Luckin at first instance.

Under the *Act on the Establishment of and Procedure for Intellectual Property and International Trade Court, B.E. 2539 (1996)*, the IP&IT Court is the exclusive court of first instance with nationwide jurisdiction over intellectual property cases. For trademark invalidation matters, a party may file an invalidation petition with the Thai Trademark Committee; if dissatisfied with the Committee’s decision, the party may then bring an action before the IP&IT Court. Alternatively, a party may directly initiate civil proceedings before the IP&IT Court based on "superior rights."

However, following the defendant’s appeal, in 2023 the Thai Special Case Court of Appeal reversed the decision and ruled against Luckin, on the grounds that Luckin Coffee (China) Co., Ltd. lacked standing to sue at the time the complaint was filed. Specifically, at the time of filing, Luckin Coffee (China) Co., Ltd. had not yet legally become the lawful owner of the "Luckin" series of trademarks; the marks were held by Beijing Ruiji Coffee Technology Co., Ltd., and under the applicable licensing agreement, Luckin did not possess the right to use, register, or enforce the trademarks outside of China. Following this adverse ruling, the defendant even filed a counterclaim against Luckin seeking 10 billion Thai Baht in damages, leaving the enforcement effort at an impasse.

Confronted with the unfavorable situation, Luckin adjusted its legal strategy and re-filed its lawsuit before the IP&IT Court in March 2024, asserting that Luckin held "prior and superior rights" and further invoking the provisions on protection of well-known marks under the *Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property*, requesting the court to conduct a substantive examination of trademark ownership.

In February 2025, the Central Intellectual Property and International Trade Court of Thailand held that, because the subject matter of the two lawsuits differed, the claims did not constitute *res judicata* or double litigation; after substantive review, the court again ruled in favor of Luckin. The defendant appealed once more, until July 8, 2026, when the Thai Special Case Court of Appeal rendered its final appellate judgment, fully upholding the lower court’s decision, thereby concluding this five-year cross-border rights protection battle.

Under the final judgment, the court not only permanently enjoined the defendant from using Luckin’s relevant trademarks in coffee-related business, but also ordered the defendant to cancel its registered trademarks, change its company name and corporate seal, and pay compensation and litigation costs totaling more than 95 million Thai Baht, which includes daily recurring damages of 100,000 Thai Baht until the cessation of the infringing activities.

This case marks the first time that the Thai judicial system has formally recognized the principle of bad-faith trademark pre-emption and applied "superior rights" to cancel an improperly registered trademark. The total compensation of over 95 million Thai Baht also sets a record high for intellectual property cases in Thailand. While trademark rights are territorial in nature—meaning that trademarks registered in China do not automatically enjoy protection in Thailand, and the Thai trademark system adheres to the "first-to-file" principle as an important rule—Luckin, as the original brand creator, although registering later in Thailand than the defendant, nevertheless holds "prior and superior rights" to the trademarks, and its international renown and originality warrant judicial protection.