Treasury Wine Estates has won a landmark legal dispute in China, affirming its right to use and market the Ben Fu trademark, the Chinese translation of its iconic wine brand Penfolds.
The Beijing High People’s Court confirmed that a Chinese trademark squatter who had registered the Ben Fu trademark in 2009 has failed to demonstrate any genuine use of the trademark for wine or related business activities. This trademark will subsequently be cancelled, allowing for TWE to claim its right to ownership of the Ben Fu trademark registration and to freely use this trademark across China.
Ben Fu roughly translates as ‘towards prosperity’.
According to TWE President and Managing Director – Asia and Europe, Robert Foye, the judgement is significant as it cements TWE as the legitimate owner of Ben Fu, a brand Chinese consumers clearly associate with Penfolds quality wine.
“Ben Fu is the most widely recognised wine brand in China – this is due to the fact that we have a long and strong history of actively marketing high quality Penfolds wine using this Chinese transliteration,” Foye said.
“Protecting the integrity of our historic wine brands against trademark piracy is critical. We have never wavered in our commitment to defend our position as the rightful owner of the Ben Fu trademark in China, and we are absolutely thrilled with this decision.”
Trademark disputes don’t always end so happily for drinks companies. French wine merchant Castel lost a similar case against the same trademark squatter last year and was forced to pay a multi-million dollar fine.
Penfolds wines’ presence in China spans 25 years, with Chinese consumers referring to the Penfolds brand as Ben Fu for the past 20 years.
Earlier this year, China topped the US to become Australia’s top export market. And TWE’s Penfolds is leading the charge.
TWE posted annual net profit growth of 131% to $179.4m in 2016, underpinned by a 76% surge in sales by volume to China, Korea and Japan.
Australia is poised to send its first intellectual property rights counsellor, David Bennett, to Beijing this year to protect local interests. Bennett has warned wine companies hoping to break into the Chinese market to register their trademarks as early as possible to avoid Chinese firms pre-empting them to gain trademark buy-out payments.
