LEX VINI

Regulating Social Media in the Workplace

The proliferation of social media creates new and difficult situations for employers. Many employers wonder to what extent they can regulate their employee’s social media activities or legally take an employment action based on an employee’s off-duty conduct. For better or worse, most of us carry smart phones with the capacity to text, email, comment, […]

New Alcohol Beverage Regulations Give Licensees Expanded Rights and Privileges in the New Year

Beginning on January 1, 2016, new provisions of the California ABC Act will go into effect that will, among other things, provide industry members with additional rights and privileges related to marketing, events and promotions, and will also create a new Craft Distiller License.   A summary of a few of these important new statutory provisions […]

New Law Amends California Tied-House Law

Governor Jerry Brown has signed AB 780, a law which helps clarify the rules that permit an alcohol beverage producer, importer, or wholesaler (collectively, a “supplier”) to list or mention on- and off- premise retailers in supplier-sponsored advertising, including supplier websites and social media channels.  As described in more detail below, the new law is fairly […]

Regulatory Hurdles for DTC, Social Media, and Third Party Sales Channels

During last week’s Unified Wine & Grape Symposium, DP&F attorney John Trinidad moderated a panel discussion titled, “Regulatory Hurdles for DTC, Social Media, and Third Party Sales Channels.” Trinidad led off the session with a presentation describing how the Internet has “disrupted” the wine industry’s traditional sales and marketing models.  You can access Trinidad’s PowerPoint presentation by clicking on […]

California Tied House Laws and Social Media

According to a recent article in the Sacramento Bee, the California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control (“ABC”) recently accused a California winery of violating tied house laws by sending the following tweet:  “Two days till @SaveMart Grape Escape in Downtown #Sacramento!” SaveMart Supermarkets holds a California alcohol beverage retailer license, and the ABC considered the […]

Parker, Bloggers, and Fair Use

By John Trinidad Lawyers for The Wine Advocate, the publication made famous by Robert Parker, recently fired off a letter to wine writer Tyler Coleman, demanding that he “immediately remove content on [his blog] www.drvino.com that was copied from eRobertParker.com,” claiming that Coleman’s use of this material “blatantly infringes upon [The Wine Advocate’s] copyright protected […]

Disruptive Technologies: The Internet and Wine

Dickenson, Peatman & Fogarty attorney John Trinidad recently gave a presentation at the University of California-Berkeley School of Law on the impact of the Internet on the regulations that govern the wine industry.  You can download a copy of Mr. Trinidad’s presentation here. During his presentation, Mr. Trinidad provided an overview of how the spread of e-commerce […]

New TTB Guidelines on Social Media and Alcohol Beverage Advertising

Earlier this week, the TTB issued an Industry Circular providing additional guidance for alcohol beverage producers, importers, and wholesalers using social media. The TTB regulates the advertising of wine, distilled spirits, and beer, and generally prohibits deceptive or misleading advertising.  The TTB also prohibits industry members from engaging in certain advertising practices or making certain […]

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