Time for another entry in what has become a running series of posts about wine in China. Thus far, the series includes:
- China, Wine and Tariffs
- China Trademarks: Wine Labels in China
- China Trademarks – The (Mis)Classification of Wine
I’ve written previously about the rampant counterfeiting of foreign wine in China, especially with well-known brands like Château Lafite, Château Latour, and Screaming Eagle. Because counterfeiting only comes to light when it is discovered by authorities (or brand owners), the data is sketchy on the actual amount of counterfeit wine on the market – it’s either anecdotal or extrapolated, which leads to widely divergent conclusions. Maureen Downey, often cited as the leading expert on wine fraud, said back in 2014 that the majority of counterfeits were limited to a few vintages of a few labels, and that the top 16 counterfeit wines were all European. Meanwhile, another wine fraud investigator stated last year that 20% of all wine in the world is counterfeit, which would mean approximately 6 billion bottles of counterfeit wine are sold each year – a lot more than a few vintages of a few labels.
For many wineries, the design of the label — that is, in addition to the name of the winery – is also an indication of the source of goods. A bottle of Château Lafite doesn’t just bear the name “Lafite”; it also has a picture of the château. The obvious way to protect the wine label from infringement is via a trademark registration for the label design (or at least the graphic elements common to each label). But almost every wine label would also be considered a creative work in fixed form, and therefore eligible for copyright protection.
As we wrote in China Copyright Law: We Need to Talk:
Copyright is an essential part of any substantive IP protection plan in China, but many companies fail to take an extremely important step: registering their copyrights in China. One of the most common misconceptions our China lawyers frequently hear is that copyright registration in China is optional, because you do not have to file anything to have a valid copyright in China.
The moral of that post is just as true for wineries as for any other company – the best way to enforce your copyright in China is to register it. Counterfeiters are creative in their own way, and I’ve seen some fakes that combine one winery’s label design with a new (often fake) winery name. A trademark registration for your label may be sufficient to stop such a fake, but why not give yourself more ammunition?
As with any business decision, wineries should conduct a cost-benefit analysis before registering a copyright in China. If you are a small winery and/or don’t sell wine in China and never expect to, I wouldn’t bother registering any IP in China, let alone a copyright. But if you’re big enough to export wine to China, you’re big enough to protect your IP. And that means trademarks for your name and your label, and also a copyright for the label.