Zespri, the world’s largest seller of kiwifruits, won its battle to protect its intellectual property rights in China when a Shanghai court recently sentenced three infringers to prison terms.
On July 22, 2024, the court penalized three people Rmb550,000 (US$76,980) apiece and sentenced them to three years and nine months in jail for infringing Zespri’s intellectual property. The accused purchased kiwifruit cultivated locally from farmers in Pujiang County, Sichuan province, who were in the process of counterfeiting Zespri’s registered trademark labels and packaging. They then used their web storefronts to sell the freshly packaged and tagged produce. In this manner, they made between 650,000 and 850,000 pieces of kiwifruit, bringing in around Rmb3.2 million (US$447,900).
Zespri China’s president, Michael Jiang, expressed that the business is satisfied with the court’s decision. In remarks published on the unit’s website on August 14, 2024, he said: “This verdict sends a strong message of zero tolerance for illegal activities involving counterfeit use of Zespri trademarks and intellectual property, as well as for illegal actions that harm Chinese consumers’ interests.”
Zespri now grows the fruit in collaboration with roughly 1,500 growers in Italy, South Korea, Japan and France, in addition to 2,800 growers in New Zealand. The company’s worldwide sales increased by 2 percent to NZ$3.99 billion (US$2.45 billion) last year, with about a third of that market coming from China.
China is a major producer of kiwifruit despite imports, and Ivan Kinsella, vice president of public affairs at Zespri China, said that this is something they welcome since it will allow them to keep refining the domestic kinds, which will support the growth of the sector and allow kiwifruit to be included in fruit bowls.
- Excel V. Dyquiangco
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