Grapes get a vintage. Apples get a labeling restriction. Garden Path’s challenge to TTB’s cider rules ended over administrative exhaustion, leaving the First Amendment question unanswered. The filings offer lessons for producers seeking to put truthful harvest-year information on their labels.
“100% agave,” “handcrafted,” and “small batch” carry different risks when consumers challenge a tequila’s ingredients or production. The 818 litigation offers suppliers and wholesalers lessons about substantiation, testing, website disclosures, and the limits of label approval.
TTB’s 2025 contingency plan explained which operations would stop during an appropriations lapse and which would continue. This historical overview links the plan and identifies effects on approvals and tax administration.
This post explains how the TTAB denied concurrent wine trademark registrations where the applicant relied on undocumented sampling programs and pre-COLA use. It warns brewers, distillers, and wineries that failing to secure required COLAs before introducing products in commerce can fatally undermine trademark priority and open the door to challenges.
Part six examines proposed aggregate-packaging restrictions, electronic recordkeeping, and claim substantiation under Notice 176.
A January 2019 litigation update reports expedited approval of Atlas Brew Works’ keg collar during its shutdown-related First Amendment challenge.
A January 2019 status update considers the effect of the shutdown’s end on Atlas Brew Works’ request for emergency label-approval relief.
The 2019 Atlas Brew Works lawsuit raises First Amendment questions about selling beer when the government requires but stops processing COLAs.
A wine-mark dispute examines how label approval and lawful sales affect the first use in commerce asserted to support trademark rights.
TTB Ruling 2013-1 addresses beer sold or shipped within the state where bottled and the distinction between COLA approval and other labeling duties.
