Last week, California District Court Judge Donato denied Union Wine Company’s motion to dismiss a suit launched against the wine company by FN Cellars, LLC. FN Cellars originally brought suit against Union Wine seeking (1) declaratory judgment of validity for FN Cellars’ trademark; (2) a declaration that its mark does not…
Category: Wine and Intellectual Property
Budweiser Wins Trademark Opposition Over Winebud
Last week, the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (“TTAB”) issued an opinion that sided with Anheuser-Busch, LLC’s opposition of the registration of the mark WINEBUD. See Anheuser-Busch, LLC v. Innvopak Systems Pty Ltd., Opposition No. 91194148 (August 17, 2015) [precedential]. The applicant, Innvopak Systems Party Limited, originally filed an application to register the…
Trademark: Can a Last Name be Confusingly Similar for a Wine?
Joseph Barton, Applicant, sought to register the mark (in standard characters) BARTON FAMILY on the Principal Register in international class 33 “wine; wines.” See In re Thomas Barton, Serial No. 85826787 (Dec. 11, 2014) [not precedential]. The Trademark Examining Attorney refused registration of Applicant’s mark under Section 2(d) of the Trademark Act, 15 U.S.C….
Is CENTURY Confusingly Similar with SECOLO for Wine?
The Biltmore Company, Applicant, sought to register the mark CENTURY (in standard characters) for wine in International Class 33. See In re The Biltmore Company, Serial No. 85561663 (Nov. 21, 2014) [Not precedential]. Originally, the Trademark Examining Attorney refused registration under Section 2(d) of the Trademark Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1052(d), on the…
Arcata Not Primarily Geographically Deceptively Misdescriptive of Wine
In a recent TTAB decision, the Board found that Arcata was not primarily geographically deceptively misdescriptive of wine. The Applicant, D’Andrea Family Limited Partnership, sought to register the mark ARCATA in standard character form for “Wine” in International Class 33. In re D’Andrea Family Limited Partnership, Serial No. 85834204 (Oct….
Trademark Infringement Suit Filed in California Court Between “Mommyjuice” and “Mommy’s Time Out”
On Monday, a lawsuit was filed in a federal court in California claiming that the “Mommyjuice” of California-based winery Clos Lachance Wines violates the trademark of “Mommy’s Time Out,” a wine marketed by a New Jersey wine distributor. (See Wine for “Mommy” Sets off Trademark Fight.) Both “Mommyjuice” and “Mommy’s Time Out”…
The Four Legal Categories of Wine in America
I receive a lot of questions regarding the legal protection of different types of wine in America on a somewhat daily basis. This entry serves as an overview of the American legal protection of different classifications of wines. Background The history of the U.S.’s protection of intellectual property is one…
Changyu Wine Ends 10-Year Dispute Over Entitlement to Cabernet Trademark
Recently, Yantai Changyu Pioneer Wine ended a 10-year dispute with six wine companies over legal entitlement to the Cabernet trademark (解百纳 or phonetically, “Jie Bai Na”). The dispute over the trademark questioned whether Changyu could dominate the Cabernet trademark as its common ingredient used to produce wine and as a common…
Chicago-Kent College of Law: War on Terroir
The Chicago-Kent College of Law Intellectual Property Law Society recently presented a lecture on geographical indications pertinent to wine law titled, “Geographical Indications of Origin and Trademark Law as they Pertain to Artisanal Cheese and Wine.” The professors featured in the following lecture are Professors Sarah Harding and Christopher Buccafusco….
The TRIPS Agreement and the Wine Industry
When considering international relations with respect to the wine industry, most literature recites the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (commonly called the “TRIPS Agreement”). Generally speaking, the TRIPS Agreement creates standards of intellectual property (“IP”) regulation amongst other members of the World Trade Organization (“WTO”). This agreement…