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Zhong Lun Law Firm Assisted TWE in Unfair Competition Lawsuit in Relation to RUSH RICH and Won Favorable First Instance Judgment
Zhong Lun Law Firm Assisted TWE in Unfair Competition Lawsuit in Relation to RUSH RICH and Won Favorable First Instance Judgment
Zhong Lun Law Firm represented Treasury Wine Estates (TWE) in an unfair competition lawsuit against two domestic companies (the Defendants) for relevant promotion activities in relation to RUSH RICH wines. On April 15, 2019, Shanghai Pudong New District People’s Court (the first-instance court) publicly pronounced first-instance judgement of this case as a part of series of publicity activities for “4.26" World Intellectual Property Day.
The first-instance court held that the Defendant’s activities, including introducing its RUSH RICH wine as “the most famous and largest winery in Australia", “the symbol for Australian wines", etc., constitute false allegations. Accordingly, the first-instance court ordered the Defendants to stop their unfair competition activities by making false allegations, supported TWE’s claim for damage compensation in full for an amount of CNY 1.4 million and reasonable expenses for an amount of CNY 0.6 million, and ordered the Defendants to publish announcement on the magazine China Wine and the Defendant’s WeChat public account “奔富酒园" to eliminate the adverse impact on TWE.
TWE is an ASX (Australian Securities Exchange) listed company with dozens of world-renowned wine brands including Penfolds and Wolf Blass. The history of Penfolds Winery has lasted for more than 170 years. The Penfolds wine is recognized as “the symbol for Australian wine" and Penfolds Grange is recognized as “the king of Australian wine". Upon entering the Chinese market, Penfolds wines were welcomed by consumers and became one of the most popular wine brands in China. After discovering the Defendants’ activities, TWE entrusted Zhong Lun Law Firm to file this unfair competition lawsuit with the first instance court.
This case has complicated background and is related to several other cases, including not only administrative cases for trademark application and prosecution, but also legal actions taken by TWE against the Defendants in Australia. After meticulously sorting out the context of the case, Zhong Lun lawyers formulated comprehensive litigation strategy, collected solid evidence, fully displayed and illustrated evidence, and made strict and strong arguments. After a trial lasting over one year and a half, the first-instance court found that the Defendants’ activities constitute unfair competition against TWE and fully supported TWE’s claim.
The first-instance judgment of this case is of great significance for TWE to clear the market for its core brand. It also highlights firm attitude of the people's court to increase the amount of compensation for damages to intellectual property rights and to maintain the rule of law.
This case was handled by Zhong Lun team led by Jimmy Huang, a partner of Intellectual Property Department, and the team members include non-equity partner Hope Yang, attorney Fred Zhang， Brenda Jin and Alicia Ma.