As you all probably have heard, in Cadena Commercial v. Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission, the Texas Supreme Court recently weighed in on the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission’s decision to deny a license for retail sales to a group of convenience stores that wanted to sell alcohol because through a chain of ownership, one of the […]
Category: Regulations
Will Lee v. Tam End The TTB’s Censorship of Beer Wine and Spirits Labels Found Obscene or Indecent?
As the US awaits a verdict in Lee v. Tam – a trademark dispute challenging a section of the trademark act (15 U.S.C. 1052(a)) refusing trademark registration for marks that are deemed immoral or scandalous, and the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s implementation and application of those restrictions – it would benefit us to be […]
Online Wine Retailer Wins Case Against False Claims Assertions Over Failure to Collect Local Taxes For Sales
In a recent win for online wine retailers (not wineries selling direct), the Illinois appellate court has upheld the dismissal of an action against online wine retailer Winetasting.com alleging it violated Illinois’ False Claims Act (740 ILCS 175) in failing to collect and pay the local retailer’s occupation tax for the municipality where the wine […]
Craft Brewers Need to Watch This Texas Dispute Over Getting Money From Wholesalers For Selling Distribution Rights – State Files Opening Brief in Appeal of Challenge to Texas Brewer’s Ability to Sell Their Distribution Rights for Payment
It used to be that brewers signed with wholesalers and gave up their self-distribution rights and didn’t get any money for them. Then some enterprising brewers realized that wholesalers sue each other and brewers for the value of those rights so the rights must have value. They started asking for payment when they signed with […]
Hard Cider Gets Harder As Changes to Hard Cider Get Addressed in New TTB Temporary Rule for Public Comment
The TTB has proposed and is seeking public comment on modifications to the definition and treatment of Hard Cider through temporary rule, T.D. TTB–147, based on requirements set out in the PATH Act. You can find the full Notice of Proposed Rulemaking here. You can read the Temporary Rule here. The summary from the Temporary […]
A Win for Rational Thought In Alcohol Advertising – 8th Circuit Asks District Court to Consider Whether There’s A Correlation Between Alcohol Advertising Regulations and Their Intended Objectives In Order to Satisfy First Amendment Scrutiny
It’s not just that some 20th Century laws are not equipped to handle 21st Century problems. (I read that in a Google ad a while back and still think it is a great statement.) Its that since the time when many of the problems asserted in the alcohol industry were the subject of “tied-house” and […]
Oral Argument Video of Challenge to Alcohol Advertising Tied-House Regulations at 9th Circuit
As we said we would yesterday, here is the video of the oral argument that happened yesterday in Retail Digital Network, LLC, v. Director of Alcoholic Control Board, Applesmith (link is to our post from yesterday describing the case and why it is important to advertisers and brewers, vintners, and distillers.
Tied-House Challenge To Allow Alcohol Advertising Payments to Retailers Has Oral Argument In Front of En Banc 9th Circuit – Here’s a Live Link!
Officially, you can view 9th Circuit oral arguments here the day after they occur. But that’s really not good enough, is it. So here is a Youtube Link to be able to watch the Courtroom Session as it occurs. The arguments are set for 1:00 p.m. Pacific Time today. In case you’ve had your head […]
