Chinese tiremaker Doublestar is hoping to renegotiate terms of use for the Kumho Tire trademark, Korean media reports. The company rejected a proposal from Kumho Industrial that would require Doublestar to pay .05% of sales annually during a 20-year deal for the Kumho name.
As the preferred bidder of Kumho Tire, Doublestar is poised to pay 955 billion won ($831 million) to acquire the majority of Kumho Tire shares.
There has been an ongoing battle between creditors and Kumho Asiana Group, which owns Kumho Industrial, over the trademark rights of Kumho Tire.
Creditors originally proposed Doublestar only pay 0.02% annually and allow the Chinese tiremaker to cancel the trademark agreement by giving Kumho Industrial three months notice. Kumho Asiana Group and its chairman Park Sam-Koo countered with a deal that required Double Star to pay .05% of sales annually and made the Chinese tiremaker unable to unilaterally cancel the trademark agreement during that time.
Park has until Friday to respond to Doublestar’s request for negotiation.