In a win for popular Australian wine brand Penfolds, the Xiamen Intermediate People’s Court in Fujian Province has ordered two trading companies to pay RMB 1 million (US$145,000) for infringing the trademark of Penfolds, according to a recent court document.
Recently, the Xiamen Intermediate People’s Court in Fujian Province announced a judgment in which Xiamen Regis International Trade Co., Ltd. and Xamen Aopuzhixing International Trade Co., Ltd. jointly ordered to pay RMB 1 million in compensation for infringing on the Penfolds trademark.
The decision mandated that the defendants must immediately stop infringing on the exclusive rights of the PENFOLDS trademark and its Chinese counterpart “奔富”, and jointly compensate the plaintiff for economic losses amounting to RMB 1 million.
As this is a first-instance judgment, if the defendants disagree, they can appeal to the Fujian Provincial High People’s Court within 15 days.
However, this is not the first time Xiamen Regis has been caught infringing on Penfolds’ trademark. Reports indicate that it had previously attempted to register or register trademarks associated with Penfolds multiple times. In August 2019, the company was involved in a trademark infringement case concerning “星瑞奔富 (Siri Penfupuy)” sold by them. The company and another related party were ordered by the Nanjing Intermediate People’s Court in Jiangsu Province to jointly pay RMB 2.1 million in compensation.
According to the official website of the National Intellectual Property Administration, the company also attempted to apply for several Penfolds-related trademarks with prefixes and suffixes added to the Chinese name “奔富”, such as Penfolds Vineyard, Penfolds Slope Vineyard, and Penfolds Pure Zhen Winery, but these trademarks are all in a “rejected” or “contested” status.
Both companies appear to have had their business license revoked.
Among wine enterprises operating in China, Treasury Wine Estates has always been a leader in defending trademark rights. In recent years, Treasury Wine Estates has sued several companies for counterfeiting Penfolds trademarks in both Chinese and English and has cooperated with law enforcement agencies in cracking down on several cases of counterfeit and substandard Penfolds products.
