LEX VINI

The Fair Treatment of Farmworkers Act: A Game Changer for Agricultural Employers

While many employers have focused their attention on the stalled Employee Free Choice Act over the past few years, another more targeted bill has quietly made its way through the California legislature. Senate Bill 104, the “Fair Treatment of Farmworkers Act,” would effectively eliminate secret ballot elections for organizing farmworkers by creating a “card check” […]

USPTO Finds Wine and Tequila Related, Grants Opposition to Trademark Application for GRAN SOL

On May 17th, the Trademark Trial and Appeals Board (the “Board”) of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (the “USPTO”) granted an opposition filed by Miguel Torres, S.A. against a trademark application for GRAN SOL and Design for Tequila (as shown below) based on the prior registration of the trademark GRAN VIÑA SOL for wine […]

TTB Shifts COLA Compliance Obligations to Applicants to Streamline Process

In a sign of TTB’s efforts to streamline and expedite the COLAs review process, the TTB announced on May 3, 2011 that it will no longer evaluate labels for purposes of ensuring that the labels conform to legibility and type size requirements (including characters per inch and contrasting background) contained in the code. TTB will […]

West Sonoma Coast: Investing in Marketing over AVA Recognition

Vintners and growers from the far western coastal areas of the Sonoma Coast AVA have recently launched a marketing program to promote the “WestSonomaCoast” area.  The group has determined, at least for now, that the politics and bureaucracy surrounding the AVA formation process do not best serve the group’s goal of distinguishing the far west […]