One of the major functions of the TTB, the federal agency that has primary jurisdiction over alcohol beverages in the U.S., is to collect federal excise taxes on alcohol beverages. As TTB more thoroughly explains on its website, excise tax rate depends on commodity type as well as product. See Tax…
Category: Federal Law
Thank You for Attending the Wine Law CLE
Special thanks to all On Reserve readers who attended last week’s CLE course on wine law in New York City. The course surveyed an introduction to wine law, and highlighted some of the major legal issues with respect to federal regulation, state regulation, and direct shipping. Although many issues affect the…
NOPA vs. Napa: A Wine Trademark Opposition
Recently, a Portuguese wine company, Wine Vision Lda. sought to register the mark “NOPA” in standard characters for “wines” through the United States Patent and Trademark Office. Napa Valley Vintners Association (“NVVA”) filed a notice of opposition with the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board. Napa Valley Vintners Association v. Wine…
District Court Denies Duck Walk’s Motion to Dismiss Against Duckhorn
Last year, California-based Duckhorn Wine Co. filed a complaint against Long Island-based Duck Walk Vineyards alleging consumer confusion and breach of settlement agreement that resolved a prior trademark infringement action between the two parties. See Duckhorn Wine Co. Files a Complaint Against Duck Walk Vineyards Alleging Consumer Confusion on Wine Labels; see also Duckhorn…
The Minimalistic Wine Label Approach: Are We Heading Toward Textless Labels?
There’s been some chatter recently about Uproot Wines and its newly introduced color-coded labels that represent the wine’s flavor palette. See, e.g., Millennials Targeted with Color-Coded Labels. The colored boxes on the true front label of the wine feature what Uproot Wines declares is a flavor palette, or a profile of…
TTB Updates Information on Optional Alcohol Facts Statements
Last week, TTB updated its FAQ section on optional Alcohol Facts statements to include more information on Alcohol Facts statements (or alcohol facts panels). The updated information includes TTB’s insights on whether per-serving and per-container alcohol content information can be placed on labels and in advertisements which do not contain nutrient content…
A Trademark Double Entendre: N2 Versus Into Wines
Here’s an interesting scenario. Can a trademark applicant’s mark ever have multiple meanings? And can such dual-meaning mark be issued a trademark even if one of its meanings is deemed merely descriptive? In a recent appeal to the United States Patent and Trademark Office’s Trademark Trial and Appeal Board, administrative…
TTB Suspends Ruling on Bottling Taxpaid Wine in Growlers
Several weeks after TTB announced its third ruling of Year 2014, the Bottling Taxpaid Wine in Growlers or Similar Containers for Consumption Off of the Premises, TTB issued a subsequent announcement declaring the suspension of the ruling. (The original ruling held that filling growlers and similar containers for consumption off of the…
New TTB Ruling on Bottling Taxpaid Wine in Growlers
Environmentally-conscious and corkscrew-phobic wine lovers alike will be thrilled to hear that TTB issued a ruling on March 11, 2014, allowing the filling of wine growlers by TTB-licensed taxpaid wine bottling houses (“TPWBH”). The ruling is in response to a new Washington state law allowing state-licensed wineries to sell wine…
Jamieson Vineyards Takes On Pernod Ricard’s Irish Distillers
On February 27, 2014, the Napa Valley-based vineyard Madison Vineyard Holdings, LLC, the owner of Jamieson Ranch, filed a complaint against Pernod Ricard’s Irish Distillers Limited, owner of the renowned Jameson Irish Whiskey, in the United States District Court Northern District of California. See Madison Vineyard Holdings, LLC vs. Irish Distillers Limited. The…