GoldenBlue to file suit against Carlsberg over terminated contract

GoldenBlue will file a lawsuit against Carlsberg for its unilateral termination of a distribution contract, seeking financial compensation from the beermaker that has a royal warrant of appointment, Korea’s largest local liquor company said Wednesday.

The firm also plans to visit the Embassy of Denmark in Korea to protest Carlsberg’s “unfair” business practices and file a complaint with the Fair Trade Commission (FTC), GoldenBlue officials said.

On March 7, it received a letter of “mutual confirmation of termination” from Carlsberg announcing its intent to cease distribution of its products. The Korean firm will stop retailing all of Carlsberg’s beer on March 31.

GoldenBlue, which signed a distribution agreement with Carlsberg in May 2018, has been marketing Danish beer here. However, in January 2022, Carlsberg began extending the contract for only two to three months at a time. After the last contract ended in October 2022, GoldenBlue has been retailing and marketing Carlsberg products under non-contractual status.

“Carlsberg has abused its power on us. We thought they were going to extend the distribution contract with us soon or later and covered for all the marketing costs after our ‘official’ contract ended on Oct. 31, 2022,” a GoldenBlue official said. “We are preparing to fight Carlsberg with determination to lose everything.

We will take legal action against Carlsberg and file a complaint to the FTC on the Danish firm’s unilateral termination of contract.”

According to GoldenBlue, Carlsberg established a Seoul branch last October to prepare for an advance into the Korean market on its own, despite its ongoing partnership with local liquor firms including GoldenBlue. The liquor firm said it continued to invest in perosnnel and resources for Carlsberg even in this situation.