MILLENNIUM RE-ACQUIRES BELVEDERE TRADEMARK

After undergoing a trademark dispute early last month, Millennium Import (an affiliate of Moët Hennessy USA and Polmos Zyrardow) and Belvedere Winery have come to terms. The two former partners agreed that Millennium will acquire the Belvedere trademarks, goodwill, and domain name in the U.S. This agreement gives Millennium and its affiliates full ownership of the Belvedere trademark in all major countries around the world including the U.S. It also resolves all litigation between Belvedere Winery and Millennium regarding the Belvedere trademark.

Millennium will immediately resume the sale, marketing, distribution and fulfillment of purchase orders of Belvedere Vodka in the U.S. after voluntarily and temporarily suspending those activities. Financial details were not disclosed.

QUICK BACKGROUND: Millennium is an affiliate of the Polmos Zyrardow vodka distillery in Poland, which already owns the Belvedere trademark throughout the rest of the world, except in the U.S., where Millennium had licensed the name since 1996 from Belvedere Winery.