Doublestar Rejects Terms for Kumho Trademark Usage

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.

The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company has named Ryan Waldron as president of the company's Americas business unit, reporting to Chief Executive Officer and President Mark Stewart. He succeeds Steven R. McClellan, who retired on April 1.

"At Goodyear, our customers are at the center of everything we do, and in Ryan Waldron, we have a customer-centric, execution-focused business leader with a deep understanding of both the marketplace and all aspects of our business, as well as a proven track record of delivering results," Stewart said. "I am thrilled to announce him as president of Goodyear's Americas business and have enormous confidence that under his leadership, both the company and our customers will reach even greater levels of success."