On July 27, Luckin Coffee announced on its official Weibo account: "We won! This is the first case in Thai judicial history to formally recognize the concept of 'trademark squatting in bad faith'."
From the moment netizens spotted "copycat Luckin" stores in Thailand in early 2022, to a first-instance victory in 2023 followed by a loss on appeal, and then a countersuit from the defendant demanding 10 billion THB — Luckin's battle to protect its rights has stretched over five long years.
On July 8, 2026, Thailand's Specialized Appeals Court delivered its verdict: Luckin won on appeal, fully upholding the original first-instance judgment. The court found the defendant had engaged in bad-faith trademark squatting and infringement, ordering the infringing trademarks to be canceled and permanently banning the defendant from using "LUCKIN COFFEE," "瑞幸咖啡," and the deer head logo.
The damages awarded were equally staggering: 10 million THB in base compensation + 856 days × 100,000 THB per day in continuing damages = over 95 million THB (approximately USD 3 million) — a record high for intellectual property compensation in Thailand. Even more significant is that the court formally recognized the concept of "trademark squatting in bad faith" for the first time, meaning international brands now have a crucial judicial reference when confronting trademark squatting in Thailand.
But this victory came at a huge cost.
Luckin's trademark enforcement took five years, involved two lawsuits and two appeals, and at one point it was countersued for a staggering 2 billion RMB. Even though it ultimately won and was awarded damages, the brand's losses in the Thai market over those five years, the legal fees, and the drain on the team's energy far exceeded the compensation itself.
Is anyone watching your trademarks for you?
In the case of Luckin's infringed deer head logo, the infringer merely "slightly adjusted the deer head's orientation and swapped the color scheme" and still caused consumer confusion. From the LV quatrefoil graphic enforcement case to Molly Tea being ordered to pay 10.3 million RMB — compensation figures in trademark infringement cases are shattering records again and again.
If you wait until a court summons arrives to enforce your rights, you’ve already lost.
ipsageai — a cross-border e-commerce AI-powered IP risk control platform. It integrates trademark, patent, and copyright data from over 200 countries and regions, combining multimodal AI deep comparison with large language model intelligent analysis to deliver precise, multi-dimensional detection of word marks (transliteration, semantic meaning, stylization) and device marks (color, shape, layout).
Rather than spending five years fighting for your rights like Luckin, spend just five minutes on detection.