Craft distiller wins dismissal of misleading label suit over where the whiskey was distilled and the source of the water used in proofing.
Widow Jane Distillery makes whiskey. Before 2018 some of the bottles looked like this:...
Category: Suits
9th Circuit upholds ruling in favor of Jim Beam over lipstick trademark against Johnny Love Vodka
We covered the lipstick trademark oral arguments back in January – you can read...
California winery challenges notion that it’s any different to have bars or taprooms without food open from restaurants or bars that serve food where state doesn’t require people to actually order food. Lawsuit is a road map for others looking to file similar challenges to unfounded restrictions.
I had a call on Friday with an astute reporter that questioned what the...
No rehearing for 6th Circuit out-of-state retailer alcoholic beverage shipping case. Other Federal Appellate Court Circuit cases continue.
There are similar suits winding their way through different District and Appellate Courts at...
Indiana alcohol regulatory body enjoined from enforcing in-state residency requirements for packaged liquor retailer licenses. Tennessee Wine applied means some regular state arguments for statutory justification must be rejected and cannot satisfy health and safety analysis. Bonus: we’ve got the docs for you.
Upholding the rulings of Granholm and Tennessee Wine, A Federal Court in Indiana has...
Bud Light wins creative advertising row! Molson Coors and Anheuser-Busch corn syrup lawsuit put to rest in terse and certain terms: “Litigation should not be a substitute for competition in the market.”
The 7th Circuit wasted no time in publishing its opinion in favor of Anheuser-Busch’s...
7th Circuit hears oral argument in MillerCoors v. Anheuser-Busch corn syrup case. Bonus: we’ve got the audio for you.
Back in September, the 7th Circuit held firm on a procedural defect in the...
6th Circuit rules in favor of 3-tier system blocking access to out-of-state liquor retailers in Michigan case looking to allow out-of-state retailers to deliver to in-state consumers where in-staters have that privilege.
In case you don’t want to read through this, the majority of the reasoning...
Court allows determination of whether “buttery” on Franzia boxes is infringement of JaM Cellars marks or descriptive to head to jury. Kudos to the Court for not rubber-stamping the parties’ requests to seal the record – thereby providing access to all.
Sometimes the USPTO doesn’t always catch when a business tries to trademark words that...
Vineyard loses claims against U.S. for independent contractor’s misapplication of herbicide that destroyed vines and rendered them useless for three years where U.S. exercised no direct control over contractor and herbicides present no “special risks.”
E&J Gallo brought this suit against the United States and the US’s contractor, Pestmaster...
The 9th Circuit rules parody trumps Jack Daniel’s claims of trademark dilution and allows “Bad Spaniels” dog toy. Just because a product is commercial doesn’t mean it isn’t protected by the 1st Amendment against trademark-related claims.
This case follows a long line of parody grounded first amendment awesomeness with the...
SCOTUS denies cert. in Total Wine’s antitrust lawsuit over Connecticut’s post-and-hold, minimum pricing, and volume discount laws
The Supreme Court denied Connecticut Fine Wine’s request for review of the Second Circuit...
