Chinese hotel chain pulls Penfolds

InterContinental Hotels in China have pulled Treasury Wine Estates’ ­top-selling Penfolds brand from its wine lists as a long-running trademark dispute lingers over the winemaker's China strategy, The Australian Financial Review reports.

According to the newspaper, the move by InterContinental - which was undertaken on legal advice - could foreshadow similar actions from other hotel chains, supermarkets and online stores.

"I would ask you to pull your ­Penfolds branded wines off your menus until further notice," Tim ­Stanhope, the director of food and ­beverage operations, said in an email to managers on July 28, the AFR reports.

"We don’t want to be involved in any further law actions."

In July it was revealed Penfolds had failed to register its Chinese name and it is now engaged in a legal battle with what the newspaper calls a "notorious trademark squatter" to reclaim it.