Brief Introduction

The trademark of Bordeaux is a geographical indication collective trademark that has been registered by the Bordeaux Wine Council in France and the exclusive right is valid until July 20, 2027.

On April 25, 2019, the intellectual property administration of the Shanghai Pudong New Area – located in East China's Shanghai city – received a notification from the Administration for Market Regulation of Chengdu, to the effect that Shanghai Fitong Trading Co Ltd had exhibited wine suspected of violating the exclusive rights to use the registered Bordeaux trademark at the China Food & Drinks Fair.

Investigations showed that since July 2018, the party concerned had labeled the word Bordeaux on its wine bottles without authorization and the illegal proceeds amounted to 385,900 yuan ($59,713).

The production and sale of these goods constitutes an infringement as provided for under article 57 of the Trademark Law. The case was transferred to public security bodies due to the large quantity and value of the commodities involved, which had reached the standards for criminal prosecution.

On June 4, 2020, the Shanghai Pudong New Area People's Court rendered a criminal judgment according to the law – with the company found guilty of the offence of counterfeiting registered trademarks and was fined 100,000 yuan. In addition, the counterfeiter, the head of the company, was sentenced to 18 months in prison, with a suspended sentence of 18 months and a fine of 50,000 yuan.

Expert Comment

The case demonstrated that geographical indication collective trademarks are infringement subjects in the crime of counterfeiting registered trademarks. They reflect the equal protection for geographical indications at home and abroad – and the case demonstrated the effective operation of inter-regional cooperation mechanisms for trademark administrative law enforcement in China and the effective connection between trademark administrative law enforcement and criminal justice. (Huang Pulin, official from the legislative affairs department of the Fuzhou Municipal People's Congress Standing Committee, Jiangxi province)