Red Bull zaps Aussie wannabe

By Phil Boeyen, ShareChat Business News Editor

Tuesday 29th January 2002

Energy drink maker Red Bull has put an end to New Zealand sales of a copy-cat product called Livewire.

The company says a recent attempt to sell Livewire energy drink in a 350ml bottle in New Zealand has been stopped following a strong legal response.

"Upon learning of the attempt to sell the Livewire product, Red Bull moved swiftly to protect its intellectual property rights and the New Zealand distributors of the Livewire product agreed to withdraw it from sale," the Austrian-based beverage maker says.

"Red Bull is totally committed to protecting its valuable intellectual property rights. The latest action demonstrates that we will vigorously pursue those people we see as infringing our rights in New Zealand, just as we have done in Australia."

The move follows a legal ruling in Australia last year which found that the packaging of the Livewire energy drink can intentionally copied the Red Bull drink can.

Red Bull was founded in Austria in 1987 and last year sold around 1 billion cans of its upmarket energy drink worldwide.

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