Kiwifruit company Zespri continues to crack down on illegal plantings of its SunGold variety in China with three people being sentenced to nearly four years in jail for their involvement in the trade of the fruit.
▲A kiwi orchard with abundant fruits
Chinese growers have been illegally planting SunGold or G3, which Zespri owns the rights to, since 2016 when a grower took clippings to China.
Zespri has since been working with authorities there to crack down on fraudulent plantings and use of counterfeit packaging.
▲Kiwi Pollination
The company said as part of ongoing legal activity to protect the Zespri brand, it recently completed successful prosecutions against three individuals in China for online sales of locally grown fruit with counterfeit Zespri labels to the value of more than NZ$700,000.
The trio were each sentenced to three years and nine months in jail and ordered to pay a fine of 550,000 yuan (NZ$125,000).
The manufacturers and vendors of the counterfeit trademark labels supplied to the convicted trio have also been charged and that case is ongoing.
Zespri spokesperson Tim Clarkson said the sentences send a strong message that the fraudulent use of intellectual property will not be tolerated.
"Our work with local authorities in China reflects Zespri's strategy to take targeted action to keep unauthorised fruit or counterfeit branding out of our key channels, to protect the significant investment that's been made in building a leading global brand and by New Zealand producers in licensed kiwifruit varieties, and demonstrates our commitment to food safety.
"We're very thankful for the strong support of the Shanghai authorities and we will continue our collaborative approach to protecting grower and consumer interests."
▲Training on Pollination Techniques for Kiwi Orchard
Kiwifruit公司Zespri繼續(xù)打擊其SunGold品種在中國的非法種植，三人因參與水果貿(mào)易被判處近四年監(jiān)禁。
自2016年以來，中國種植者一直在非法種植SunGold或G3，Zespri擁有其權(quán)利，當時一名種植者將剪報帶到了中國。
此后，Zespri一直在與當?shù)禺斁趾献?，打擊欺詐性種植和使用假冒包裝的行為。
該公司表示，作為保護Zespri品牌的持續(xù)法律活動的一部分，它最近在中國成功起訴了三名個人，他們在網(wǎng)上銷售帶有假冒Zespri標簽的當?shù)厮?，價值超過70萬新西蘭元。
三人分別被判處三年零九個月監(jiān)禁，并被處以55萬元人民幣（12.5萬新西蘭元）的罰款。
向被定罪的三人提供假冒商標標簽的制造商和供應(yīng)商也被指控，此案仍在審理中。
Zespri發(fā)言人Tim Clarkson表示，這些判決發(fā)出了一個強烈的信息，即不會容忍欺詐性使用知識產(chǎn)權(quán)的行為。
“我們與中國地方當局的合作反映了Zespri的戰(zhàn)略，即采取有針對性的行動，將未經(jīng)授權(quán)的水果或假冒品牌排除在我們的主要渠道之外，保護新西蘭生產(chǎn)商在建立全球領(lǐng)先品牌和特許獼猴桃品種方面所做的重大投資，并表明我們對食品安全的承諾。
“我們非常感謝上海當局的大力支持，我們將繼續(xù)合作，保護種植者和消費者的利益?！?/p>
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