“When you use that name, there’s all these associations that come with it and all the work that we’ve put into our original product. So when that’s used to represent another product, it causes damage to us,” Forsyth said.

This is KeepCup’s second lawsuit against a beverages chain for selling products allegedly infringing upon its intellectual property. KeepCup sued coffee chain Gloria Jean’s in 2017 for releasing a reusable cup using a design it said was similar to theirs. The matter was eventually settled for an undisclosed amount and the coffee chain now sells Gloria Jean’s-branded KeepCups on its website.

Forsyth said the business wanted Chatime to stop selling the offending products, financial recompense on profits made on items sold, and legal costs to be covered.

“The outcome you’re always looking for is the infringing behaviour ceases, that any advantage that’s caused by that infringing behaviour is compensated, and that your expense in pursuing your rights is compensated.”

She said that KeepCup had driven such a “cultural shift” in consumer behaviour that it had gradually become a metonym for the general habit of using a reusable cup, like ‘Google’ for internet searches, rather than referring to the branded item itself.

“It has become a word that people often don’t realise is a trademark because it’s so associated with the behaviour, not just the product, which is great. But this is one of the outcomes of that,” she said.

“They’re using our good name to create to generate profit and revenue. And the other thing is if the product is not a great product, they’re also damaging our brand.”

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The reusable cups are no longer sold in Woolworths but are still available in some Chatime stores. The supermarket giant pulled about 500 Chatime cups off shelves in early February after receiving instructions from the bubble tea chain to dispose of them. When contacted by this masthead, a number of Chatime staff around the country said the reusable cups were still for sale or had run out and would be restocked some time next week. At the time of publishing, Chatime’s social media posts about the reusable cups remain online.

KeepCup is represented by Marque Lawyers while Chatime Australia is represented by Bird & Bird. Bird & Bird senior associate Tom Johnston said the bubble tea chain was looking to settle the matter outside the courts.

“We are instructed that Chatime has always and will continue to work towards an amicable resolution of this matter. If unresolved, Chatime will vigorously defend the claim in any legal proceedings,” Johnston said.

Chatime is a Taiwanese bubble tea franchise chain founded in 2005. It has retail outlets in Malaysia, China, India, Vietnam, Singapore, Hong Kong, Thailand, and other Asian countries as well as Dubai, Canada, the UK, Mexico and the US, and more than160 stores in Australia.

According to ASIC records, Chatime Australia has four people listed as directors, three of whom live in Taiwan and one based in Sydney.

The first court date for the case has been set for February 17 and heard by Judge Robert Cameron in Sydney.