The owner of esteemed wine brand Penfolds has won nearly $400,000 in compensation from a "copycat" company that infringed its trademark in China.
A Melbourne federal court has ordered Australian company Rush Rich Winery to immediately cease production of wine with any mark "substantially identical with or deceptively similar to" Penfold's Chinese branding, according to documents provided to the ABC.
In China, Penfolds operates as "Ben Fu", meaning "chasing prosperity" which has a similar meaning to "Rush Rich".
Rush Rich owns Adelaide's R&R Winery which bulk-bought wine to export under the copycat labels.
Treasury Wine Estates (TWE), which own Penfolds, said the outcome justified its decision to take on fraudulent operations in the courts.
"This positive outcome affirms TWE's leadership in protecting its IP rights against copycat and counterfeit operators," it said in a statement.
"The company continues to invest strongly in this area through a dedicated brand protection team, which implements a comprehensive online and offline strategy and works closely with local authorities in Australia and China to enforce against bad faith operators.
"These proceedings should send a strong message to other copycat operators that their attempts to exploit and infringe TWE's intellectual property rights and reputation will not be tolerated."
Company ordered to apologise
Last week, a Shanghai court also ordered Rush Rich to pay $426,000 in compensation, after upholding a Treasury Wine Estates unfair competition claim against the company.
It means Rush Rich will pay more than $800,000 in total to Treasury Wine Estates when combined with the Australian court decision.
According to Treasury Wine Estates, the Shanghai Pudong Court also ordered the company to apologise on its Chinese WeChat account, as well as in the popular magazine China Wine.
It said the court recognised the good fame and reputation of Penfolds wines and the relationship between Penfolds and Ben Fu.
The Court found Rush Rich's claims that it was "the largest and most famous winery in Australia" and "the symbol of Australian wine" to be false and misleading, according to TWE.
Australia Rush Rich Winery was scheduled to appear in a trial in June, but withdrew.
The ABC has attempted to make contact with Australia Rush Rich Winery.
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