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Wine Business Monthly recently published an article by DP&F attorneys Katja Loeffelholz and John Trinidad on wine labeling legal and intellectual property issues. You can access the article using the following link: “Avoiding Label Approval Issues” (Published with the permission of Wine Business Monthly).
Practical Winery & Vineyard recently published an article written by Dickenson, Peatman & Fogarty attorney Katja Loeffelholz. Katja’s article “What’s trending, how to capture it” discusses how technological advancements have permitted an evolution in wine labels, bottle shapes, closures and packaging designs. One wine bottle can contain several protectable elements. Word mark, logos/images, taglines/slogans, color, […]
Producers using the name of an AVA entirely within Sonoma County on your wine labels take note: California law requires you to include a “Sonoma County” designation for all wine bottled on or after January 1, 2014. In 2010, the California legislature approved a new “conjunctive labeling” law that requires wines labeled with the name […]
Dickenson, Peatman & Fogarty attorney Katja Loeffelholz, a registered attorney with the United States Patent and Trademark Office, recently presented “Creating, Protecting & Building Equity in your Wine Brand” at the Wine Industry Forum. You can download a copy of Ms. Loeffelholz’s presentation here: The presentation provides an introduction and overview of trademark […]
Last week, the TTB issued an interim policy (TTB Ruling No. 2013-2) allowing alcohol beverage producers to voluntarily use nutrient content statements –often referred to as “Serving Facts statements ”– on labels and advertisements. The TTB’s ruling is part of an almost decade-long review of the use of nutrient content statements on alcohol beverage labels […]
In the United States, trademark rights may be established through the lawful use of a mark in association with goods in commerce. When one is selling a product that is not subject to government regulation, such as t-shirts, it is fairly simple to make lawful use of a mark in commerce; you label the t-shirt […]
The Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) recently announced changes to the supporting documentation required for claims that alcohol products are “100% Organic,” “Organic” and/or “Made with Organic” ingredients. Currently, industry members submitting a Certificate of Label Approval (COLA) application for alcohol products that include such organic claims must submit: (1) the organic […]
An interesting case in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California recently came to our attention. Winery Exchange (“WX”), a private label wine and beer producer, has sued 7-Eleven Corporation (yes, that 7-Eleven ) alleging it breached a series of Private Label Beer Supplier Agreements to the tune of approximately $2.0 million. […]
Producers that create personalized labels for consumers (as opposed to labels made for retail or wholesale customers other than the ultimate consumers) have now been provided with guidance from the TTB regarding what changes to the COLAs for such personalized labels require approval from the TTB. For personalized labels, TTB had previously permitted the holder […]
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 […]
In October of 2010, Casella Wines, the producers of YELLOW TAIL wine, filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in New York against The Wine Group claiming trademark infringement of Casella’s federally-registered wallaby design mark featured on Casella’s YELLOW TAIL wine (see below): based on The Wine Group’s use of a kangaroo design for its […]
On February 2, TTB posted a bulletin on its COLA and formula approval process. Due to increases in label and formula submissions and economic impacts on the agency, TTB will no longer accept “Expedite Requests” or “Informal Reviews” effective immediately. TTB is cautioning applicants to allow for a 90-day application review process. The agency is […]
Each month the editors of Lex Vini will select the most interesting wine trademark applications filed with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in the prior month. In keeping with the broad meaning of “interesting,” the marks may be selected because they have significant business interest, they demonstrate potential new themes in branding, or simply […]
On December 29, 2010, TTB extended the comment period for the Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on the Use of Various Winemaking Terms on Wine Labels and in Advertisements, aka Notice No. 109. The comment period will end on March 4, 2011. Notice No. 109 seeks wine industry input on TTB’s proposal to define terms […]
January 1, 2011, was the effective date of California Business & Professions Code Section 25246 which mandates that any wine label carrying the name of an AVA located entirely within Sonoma County must also bear the appellation “Sonoma County” on the label in a font no smaller than two millimeters on packages larger than 187 ml, […]