Tag: wine
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Vintner Sues for Infringement of Naked Winery® Marks
Naked Wines LLC has filed an action against Nakedwines.com, Inc. and Groupon, Inc. alleging that they have infringed its “family of erotically-themed marks” including NAKED WINERY®, NAKED WINERY VIXEN®, NAKED WINERY NAUGHTY®, and NAKED WINERY DIVA®. Naked Wines LLC v. Nakedwines. com, Inc., No. 12-01717 (D. Or., filed September 21, 2012). According to the complaint, Oregon-based…
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European Court of Justice Decides Winemaker Cannot Label Product as “Wholesome”
A European Court of Justice panel has determined that a German winemaker may not, under European Union law, place labels on its bottles including the word bekömmlich (meaning digestible, wholesome or nourishing). Deutsches Weintor eG v. Land Rehinland-Pfalz, Case C 544/10 (E.C.J., decided September 6, 2012). According to the court, “[b]y highlighting only the easy digestion…
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Wine Maker and Beer Brewer Dispute Right to Bow Tie Marks
A California winery has filed a complaint against Anheuser-Busch, LLC seeking a declaration that the winery has not infringed any of the brewer’s protectable trademark rights and that the winery’s use of the BOW TIE word mark and Bow Tie slogan to sell its wine “does not constitute unfair competition.” San Antonio Winery, Inc. v. Anheuser-Busch,…
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Italian Vintner Alleges Trademark Infringement by German Wine Distributor
A Venice, Italy-based wine producer has sued a German wine distributor for unfair competition and trademark and copyright infringement in a federal court in California, alleging that the defendant ships to the United States for sale by a U.S. distributor a “gray market” product purporting to be the plaintiff’s pinot grigio wine. Santa Margherita, S.p.A…
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Seventh Circuit Upholds Indiana Law Regulating Wine Deliveries via Motor Carrier
The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals has turned aside a challenge to an Indiana law that prevents an alcoholic beverage retailer from shipping wine to its customers via motor carrier. Lebamoff Enters., Inc. v. Huskey, No. 11-1362 (7th Cir., decided January 17, 2012). The retailer claimed that the law was preempted by the Federal Aviation…
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EFSA Issues Opinion on Labeling Lysozyme in Wine
The European Food Safety Authority’s (EFSA’s) Panel on Dietetic Products, Nutrition and Allergies (NDA) has issued a scientific opinion on the use of egg-derived lysozyme in wine manufacturing after the Oenological Products and Practices International Association (OENOPPIA) applied to permanently exempt the anti-microbial stabilizer from labeling requirements. According to NDA, which was tasked with assessing…
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Dispute over “Mommy” on Wine Labels Goes to Court
Clos LaChance Wines has filed a complaint in a California federal court seeking a declaration that “Mommy” is not a protected trademark when used on a wine label and that the company’s domestic wine products, “MommyJuice White Wine” and “MommyJuice Red Wine,” do not infringe defendant’s “Mommy’s Time Out®” imported wines. Clos LaChance Wines, LLC…
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Maximillian Potter, “The Assassin in the Vineyard,” Vanity Fair, May 2011
“When Aubert de Villaine received an anonymous note, in January 2010, threatening the destruction of his priceless heritage unless he paid a one-million-euro ransom, he thought it was a sick joke,” writes Maximillian Potter in this May 2011 Vanity Fair article chronicling “an unprecedented and decidedly un-French” plan to poison the world’s most famous vineyard,…