Zespri awarded $15m after suing grower

Fri, 14 Feb 2020

Kiwifruit marketer Zespri has been awarded almost $15 million in damages by the High Court at Auckland after the firm’s SunGold variety was unlawfully taken to China and distributed to other growers.The company said it started the civil action in 2018 against kiwifruit grower Haoyu Gao, his wife Xia Xue and their company Smiling Face Limited, after discovering that two of its protected varieties were being propagated by Gao and his associates in China.In a ruling dated Feb. 20, Justice Sarah Katz found that Gao had fraudulently offered to sell...

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