Penfolds copycat faces being shut down by TWE

Treasury Wine Estates has lodged an application for Penfolds copycat Rush Rich to be wound up after it failied to pay court-ordered damages.

TWE won its case against the Adelaide wine company in the Federal Court of Australia in May.

The Court found that Rush Rich had infringed each of TWE’s Australian trademarks for Penfolds, Ben Fu and 奔富.

The Court has also made orders to restrain the Rush Rich companies from using 奔富, Ben Fu and Penfolds on wine in the future and to pay TWE $375,302.34 in compensation.

The case was brought by TWE in February 2018 in response to Rush Rich’s attempt to exploit TWE’s iconic Penfolds brand, including the unauthorised use of TWE’s PENFOLDS, BEN FU and 奔富 trade marks (奔富 being the Chinese transliteration of Penfolds).

However, Rush Rich has failed to pay its debt of $375,302.34.

TWE was also awarded $426,000 in compensation in a Chinese court action against Rush Rich.

“We are an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) and when we began, our main client in China was the owner of the trademark, translated directly as Rush Rich Winery,’’ Zhao told the Adelaide Advertiser.

“This is the main reason why we chose ‘Rush Rich’ to be the company’s name.

“Treasury Wine Estate’s trademark infringement claims, contrary to the picture that has been painted in the media, revolve around the use of the Chinese characters on the Chinese small label on the back of our wine bottles, which is a direct translation of our company name ‘Rush Rich Winery’.

“These Chinese characters have been trademarked in China and we have been authorised by the holder of the trademark in China to use it on products exported to China.”

However, the Shanghai Pudong Court found otherwise.