The Beijing High People’s Court has upheld a first‑instance judgment finding Shanghai RUSH RICH Trading Co., Ltd. and related companies liable for trademark infringement and unfair competition against the well‑known wine brand Penfolds/奔富. The decision confirms punitive damages of more than RMB 70 million, marking a significant victory for Treasury Wine Estates (TWE).

The Court ruled that the defendants’ long‑term use of the trademarks “奔富酒园” and “RUSH RICH” on wine products constituted malicious, large‑scale infringement. It applied double punitive damages and ordered three corporate defendants to pay over RMB 70 million in compensation. Two individuals, Mr. Zeng and Mrs. Xiong, were also held supplementarily liable for RMB 49.97 million after unlawfully reducing the registered capital of an implicated company during litigation.

This civil judgment follows the Supreme People’s Court’s 2022 decision invalidating the “奔富酒园” trademark for having been obtained through “illicit means” under Article 44.1 of the PRC Trademark Law. The new judgment represents a further crackdown on the defendants’ long‑running attempts to imitate Penfolds through trademark filings and marketplace activity.

In this latest case, the courts found that the defendants jointly operated extensive infringement schemes involving wide distribution, high sales volumes, and clear malicious intent. Evidence submitted by the defendants themselves in earlier trademark prosecution proceedings formed a key basis for calculating damages. For the defendants’ main defences relating to joint infringement, statute of limitations, calculation period of infringement damages, repetitive litigation, shareholders’ liabilities in case of unlawfully reducing registered capital, they were all rejected by the courts.

East IP’s team coordinated administrative and judicial actions across nearly 200 trademark cases and more than 100 civil and administrative litigations involving the defendants. In this final civil case, East IP developed a comprehensive strategy covering evidence collection, legal arguments, punitive damages, and shareholder liability – ultimately securing full support from both trial and appellate courts.

Partners Jimmy Huang, Hope Yang, and lawyer Alicia Ma led the litigation, with support from partner Ruby Jia and lawyers Jie Yin, Joying Tan, and Jingtian Yan.