Chinese court freezes Castel asset in China

A Chinese Court has decided to freeze the assets of Castel and seal its 13 registered trademarks in China following continued infringements.

According to winechina.com, the Wenzhou Intermediate Court issued a report in which it showed that 100% share interest of the French company in China has been frozen until 10 October 2015. The registered trademark will be sealed until 4 September 2015.

On 16 July, the Zhejiang Provincial High Court told French wine producer Castel to stop using the Ka Si Te trademark, which is a supposed transliteration in Chinese for Castel.

At the time the company was ordered to pay RMB 33,734,546.26 (more than US$5 million) to the Shanghai Banti Wine Company and Spanish-Chinese producer Li Dao Zhi, who already own the trademark.

The court made its latest decision at the request of Li Dao Zhi and Shanghai Banti Wine Company as Castel hasn’t made compensation to Li in accordance with the judgment earlier this year.

The local media believes that if Castel China doesn’t act in accordance with the final judgment, all their trademarks and share interests in China will be sold in open auctions.

“Castel only has two choices, either to compensate Li according to the judgment, or to quit the China wine market,” said one of the lawyers.

He added that: “Castel will face a severe situation in the future about how to deal with its 11 large operators in China and a numbers of agents across the country.”