Rich Energy’s ongoing troubles continue with Red Bull the latest to take out a lawsuit against the company.
A week ago, founder William Storey claimed he had terminated the contract to be title sponsor of Haas on performance grounds, this was quickly denied by the team and investors.
As it became clear stakeholders were trying to oust him as CEO, Storey claimed to have transferred the rights to the energy drink to a separate company and accused those stakeholders of staging a coup.
Eventually, he was removed as CEO, partially blaming Haas in the process, and the company was renamed Lightning Volt.
As Rich Energy, the company was sued successfully by Whytes Bikes for copyright, and it was claimed by Storey that Haas was also pursuing £35m in damages having ‘agreed’ to terminate their deal.
Now Red Bull, the brand which they had hoped to challenge by entering F1, has reportedly launched their own copyright case against the company and Storey individually.
“‘The plaintiff alleges copyright infringement against the defendants in relation to the use of identical and similar symbols to those of the plaintiff’s well-known brands ‘Red Bull’ and ‘Gives You Wings’ in the advertising of their energy drinks,” a document tweeted on Rich Energy’s account read.
‘The second defendant is the executive director and director of the first defendant.”
Accompanying the picture was the statement “A cynic might see a pattern emerging!” likely referencing Storey’s earlier claim that the stakeholders who ousted him were “cosy” with the Austrian giant.