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 Naked Wines has used the marks since 2005 and has “developed and maintains customers throughout the United States.” The marks have purportedly “become an asset of substantial value as a symbol of Plaintiff and its products.” Nakedwines.com, located in Napa, California, is allegedly “the U.S. arm of a UK-based, online company that sells and distributes wine from multiple producers.” According to the plaintiff, defendant Nakedwines.com, which is working with various producers to sell 400,000 cases of wine in the United States in 2013 and planning to open a winery in California under the name “Naked…
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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 of the wine concerned, the claim at issue is likely to encourage its consumption and, ultimately, to increase the risks for consumers’ health inherent in the immoderate consumption of any alcoholic beverage. Consequently, the prohibition of such claims is warranted in light of the requirement to ensure a high level of health protection for consumers.” The matter returns to a German court for final ruling.
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, LLC, No. 12-7067 (C.D. Cal., filed August 16, 2012). The winery claims that it started using the BOW TIE word mark in the United States in 2012 and had filed a trademark application for the mark in November 2011. After the application was published for opposition, Anheuser-Busch allegedly demanded that the winery abandon the application and refrain from using the BOW TIE word mark on the ground that the brewer held design marks depicting bow ties and that “there is a likelihood of consumer confusion, mistake, or deception between San Antonio’s BOW TIE Word Mark…
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 v. Unger Weine KG, 12-3499 (C.D. Cal., filed April 23, 2012). According to the complaint, the U.S. distributor entered a consent order with the plaintiff in 2011 prohibiting it from importing, selling, marketing, and distributing Santa Margherita Pinot Grigio in the United States. The plaintiff contends that it sells its wine in the United States exclusively through an Illinois distributor and closely monitors the distribution network to ensure product quality. The complaint alleges, “Gray Market Santa Margherita Wine is sold and distributed outside this authorized distribution channel and is not subject to the same quality…
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 Administration Authorization Act of 1994 and that it violated the dormant Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution. Writing for the panel, Judge Richard Posner explained that the Twenty-First Amendment, which confers core powers on the states to regulate the sale of alcoholic beverages, places a thumb on the scale balancing state and federal interests. If the state interests are within those core powers, wrote Posner, there is a “‘strong presumption’ of validity.” According to the court, Indiana requires that drivers employed by liquor retailers be trained in the state’s alcohol laws and the recognition of…
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 the likelihood of allergic reaction to lysozyme-treated wine, the additive is approved for use in some foods to control lactic acid bacteria but “must follow purity specifications set forth in European legislation.” Because it can evidently be used “at different stages of wine production and at different doses,” lysozyme was detected in some wines at residual amounts “considered sufficient to trigger allergic reactions in susceptible individuals.” OENOPPIA had apparently argued that lysozyme is not only “the weakest allergen among the four major egg white proteins,” but unlikely to cause a clinical reaction in egg-allergic individuals…
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 v. Selective Wine Estates, Inc., No. 11-1848 (N.D. Cal., filed April 18, 2011). Clos LaChance apparently began using its label in August 2010; it includes an image of a woman with four arms juggling a computer, house, cell phone, and teddy bear. Selective Wines, whose label contains an image of an empty chair facing a corner alongside a small table with a bottle and wine glass, purportedly sent a demand letter to Clos LaChance accusing it of infringing Selective’s trademark and demanding that Clos LaChance cease and desist from using the name “MommyJuice” in connection with…
“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, La Romanée-Conti. Considered the Holy Grail of Burgundy, the eponymous wines produced by this 4.46-acre, centuries-old vineyard currently sell for $6,455 per bottle, with 1945 vintages fetching upward of $38,000 per bottle. According to Potter, it was only a few months before a record-setting auction of Romanée-Conti that “word of the attack began seeping into the world beyond Burgundy,” which has since sought to keep the affair quiet. Potter traces the remarkable crime from early 2010, when vineyard owner de Villaine began receiving anonymous ransom demands in the mail, to the arrest of a career…
The U.K. Department for Business, Innovation and Skills has announced plans to relax regulations governing the sale of beer, wine and unwrapped bread loaves. Science Minister David Willetts apparently confirmed the government’s intention to scrap laws stipulating that unpackaged bread “weighing more than 300g must be made up in quantities of 400g or multiples of it.” He also indicated changes to the beer and wine laws, which currently state that pubs and other premises cannot sell wine “in measures less than 125ml while beer must be sold in thirds, halves or multiples of half-pints.” Under the new rules, these businesses will be able to sell wine in measures under 75ml; beer in “schooners” that are equal to two-thirds of a pint; and fortified wine in smaller sizes of 50ml and 70ml. “This is exactly the sort of unnecessary red tape the government wants to remove. No pub or restaurant should…
The Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) has published several notices pertaining to the regulation of wine and spirits. Comments on all are requested by January 3, 2011. Responding to recent action taken by the Food and Drug Administration with respect to cochineal extract and carmine, which will have to be declared on food labels because of their potential for severe allergic reactions, TTB has proposed requiring the disclosure of these ingredients on wines, distilled spirits and malt beverages. Cochineal extract and carmine are derived from an insect native to subtropical South America and Mexico. According to TTB, its proposal “would allow consumers who are allergic to cochineal extract or carmine to identify and thus avoid alcohol beverage products that contain these color additives.” TTB has also proposed amending wine labeling regulations “to allow the labeling of imported wines with multistate appellations of origin.” According to the agency, this…
