The French government has reportedly abandoned a campaign suggesting French people abstain from drinking alcohol during the month of January following pressure from wine producers. The plan was apparently inspired by a promotion launched by a U.K. advocacy group in 2013 that encourages alcohol abstinence during January and mindful alcohol consumption in the months that follow. The French health minister reportedly confirmed that discussion for a Dry January campaign would not be held until a ministerial health prevention committee meeting in February 2020.
Tag Archives wine
Europol announced that it has "dismantled a sophisticated criminal network involved in counterfeiting trademarks and distinctive labels of a famous winery in Florence, Italy, as well as counterfeiting at least 11 000 bottles of red wine." The agency arrested three people, including two members of the same family, who allegedly "sold sports products online as a way to mislead consumers of their activities." According to a press release, the "modus operandi was to prepare bottles of low-quality wine and once ready, would sell them to the Italian and international markets, primarily in Belgium and Germany."
France's Institut National de l'Origine et de la Qualité has filed an opposition with the U.S. Trademark Trial and Appeal Board contesting Teastream LLC's application to register "Champagne's Sober Cousin" for tea products. Institut National de l'Origine et de la Qualité v. Teastream LLC, No. 91241975 (T.T.A.B., opposition filed June 25, 2018). The French agency asserts that the mark would infringe on the country's protected designation of origin for sparkling wines from the Champagne region, allegedly resulting in "dilution by blurring and by tarnishment" of a famous mark. Meanwhile, France's Directorate General of Competition, Consumer Affairs and Fraud Control has reportedly investigated "anomalies, deceptions and fraud" in the sale of Spanish wine. The investigation purportedly found that several merchants sold as many as 10 million bottles of Spanish wine as French by falsely marking the bottles with "vin du France" or misleadingly marketing them with French elements, such as the…
Binny's Beverage Depot faces a putative class action alleging the company violated the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA) by collecting and sharing employee biometric information without informed consent. Burger v. Gold Standard Enters., Inc., No. 2018CH05904 (Ill. Ch. Ct., Cook Cty., filed May 7, 2018). The plaintiff alleges that Binny's established a fingerprint-based time-clock program and shared the collected data with third-party payroll processors and data-storage vendors without providing its employees "informed written consent, and without informing them through a publicly available written policy of how it was going to store and dispose of this irreplaceable information," and "failed to maintain lawful data retention practices which reduce the risk of theft or other misappropriation of its workers' biometrics by unauthorized third parties." The risk was compounded, the complaint asserts, because the biometric data was linked to Social Security numbers, addresses, birth dates and "potentially other relevant financial information." Claiming violations of…
A vintner has filed a lawsuit alleging Colorado's “wine development fee,” charged to wholesalers, is an unconstitutional excise tax. Vineland Corp. v. Colorado, No. 18-30199 (Colo. D.C., filed April 24, 2018). Since 1990, Colorado has imposed a 10-year renewable excise tax of one cent per liter on all vinous liquors sold in the state. In 1992, the state passed the Taxpayers Bill of Rights (TABOR), which mandated advance voter approval for extension of expiring taxes; in 1997, the legislature amended the 1990 act, renaming the excise tax a “wine development fee.” The plaintiff seeks declaratory judgment that the fee is “an impermissible attempt to extend an expiring tax without voter approval, and that this attempt to rename an excise tax surcharge [] without such voter approval is a violation of TABOR.” Further, the plaintiff seeks injunctive relief, attorney’s fees and a refund of all fees paid in the past four fiscal…
The French agency responsible for protecting the country’s agricultural appellations of origin has filed a notice of opposition to a California winery’s application for the trademark “Beardeaux,” arguing that the use would dilute the protected term “Bordeaux” used to designate wines from southwestern France. Institut National de l’Origine et de la Qualité v. Bear River Winery LLC, No. 91240350 (T.T.A.B., notice of opposition filed March 29, 2018). The notice asserts that wines from the Bordeaux region of France are entitled to use an “appellation d’origine contrôlée (AOC)” that “delimits the specific areas to which the appellation pertains, but also specifies the agricultural products from which the product may be derived and production methods and techniques that may be used to make the product.” Further, it argues that U.S. law recognizes the Bordeaux AOC “as a foreign nongeneric name of geographic significance which is also a distinctive designation of a specific…
The European Court of Justice has ruled that “Champagner Sorbet,” a frozen drink product made in Belgium and sold in Aldi stores, does not infringe the protected designation of wines made in the Champagne region of France. Comité Interprofessionel du Vin du Champagne v. Aldi Süd Dienstleistungs-GmbH & Co. OHG, No. C-393/16 (E.C.J., entered December 20, 2017). The Champagne producers group won an initial injunction, but an appeals court in Germany referred the issue for a preliminary ruling. Among its ingredients, Champagner Sorbet contains 12 percent Champagne. The court ruled that use of part of a protected designation of origin (PDO) term for the name of a product is not “misuse, imitation or evocation” if the product contains the protected ingredient. Here, the court found, Aldi used part of the PDO to “claim openly a gustatory quality connected with it.” As long as the product has, “as an essential characteristic,…
A winery has filed a notice of opposition against BuzzFeed Inc.'s trademark application for Wordy Wine, a wine brand allowing purchases to customize the label. Kalaris v. BuzzFeed Inc., No. 91238653 (T.T.A.B., filed December 29, 2017). Although the words “Wordy Wine” do not appear on the purchaser’s custom label, Axios Napa Valley Wines alleges the term is nearly identical to the mark for its line of “Worthy” wines.
Amid trade negotiations among the European Union, Japan and Mexico, American manufacturers and winemakers have urged the United States to exert influence on the issue of geographical indicators. In October 2017, a group of food and beverage producers—including the California Wine Institute—asked the Trump administration to express concerns to Mexico and Japan about limiting the use of common names and terms. While the organizations do not object to the protection of some geographical indicators, such as “Idaho Potatoes” or “Parmigiano Reggiano,” the EU “has been aggressively seeking to confiscate generic terms that derive from part of the protected name or are otherwise in common usage, such as ‘parmesan,’” the letter argued. In response, a group of U.S. wine growers has urged the Trump administration to encourage Japan and Mexico to allow the protection of wine place names. "While we are fully aware of the controversial nature of place names in the…
Following a bench trial, a California federal court has ruled that Fetzer Vineyards, Inc.’s “bourbon barrel aged” 1000 Stories red zinfandel wine, which features a sketch of a buffalo on its label, does not infringe the trademark or trade dress of Sazerac Co.’s Buffalo Trace bourbon. Sazerac Co. v. Fetzer Vineyards, Inc., No. 15-4618 (N.D. Cal., entered September 19, 2017). “This case was not close,” the court said. Sazerac “did not establish that Buffalo Trace’s bourbon trade dress was similar to 1000 Stories wine’s. It did not establish that Fetzer intended to infringe at the creation of its product or in its marketing. There was no evidence of actual confusion between the products … and no indication that consumers of 1000 Stories are even aware of Buffalo Trace.” The court had already limited Sazerac’s potential recovery to attorney’s fees after the company failed to provide damage calculations on a timely…
