THE WINE GROUP WINS TRADEMARK BATTLE AGAINST V&S

Golden State Vintners, a subsidiary of The Wine Group, has won its case against Vin & Sprit, the company announced yesterday. The Svea Court of Appeal in Stockholm, Sweden sided with a lower court against V&S, and ordered the company to cancel its registration of the Golden Gate trademark in Sweden. The Swedish court also awarded damages to GSV in an amount to be determined for breach of contract regarding the Golden Gate wine brand.

The Court of Appeal said V&S infringed GSV's trademark rights by falsely claiming it had secured permission to use GSV's Golden Gate mark on V&S' labels for the Golden Gate brand. Also, the court ruled that V&S breached a license agreement with GSV by registering the trademark in Sweden without permission, and selling wine under the trademark Golden Gate in Sweden from suppliers other than GSV.

In a statement, GSV acknowledged its win but claimed it “continues to suffer from V&S' deceptive marketing practices...and plans to take further legal action against V&S under the Marketing Act.”

David B. Kent, chief of The Wine Group, said:

“I am astounded that V&S would take such a laissez faire attitude towards the international protection of trademarks and by their wrongful support of such a low standard for consumer confusion regarding trade dress. Their actions may regrettably make it more difficult to defend their own ABSOLUT brand from similar knock-off and counterfeit products in the future.”