A Wenzhou court recently ordered French winemaker Castel Freres SAS and its Chinese distributors to stop using the Chinese trademark for Castel and pay more than 33.7 million yuan ($5.3 million) in compensation to the Shanghai firm Panati Wine and its founder Li Daozhi.

Li applied for the trademark in 1998 and it was granted in 2000. The firm Cavesmaiter affiliated with Pantai has since used the mark.

The French company Castel Freres was founded in 2005 and began to sell wines carrying the disputed trademark in China in 2006, which the court found infringed on Pantai's IP rights.

Cavesmaiter exports premium wines from France to many countries, especially after it acquired three wineries in Bordeaux.

(Source: China Daily)