Yellow Tail producer sues maker of Two Buck Chuck in NY

WINE TALK
1

Earlier this week, Australian company Casella, the producer of Yellow Tail wines, sued California based Bronco (producer of Two Buck Chuck) in New York federal court for alleged trademark infringement of the “[yellow tail]” mark and unfair competition based on Bronco’s sale of a new “[Down Under]" Australian wine which also bears the designation “by Crane Lake”. [pillow-fight.gif]

It looks to me as though Bronco’s wine is going to cost a lot less than Yellow Tail and Casella doesn’t appreciate being targeted in a tough market. [berserker.gif]

Although these products may not be great interest to most people on the board, they may be of interest to some ITB.

If anyone wants a copy of the complaint, send me a PM with your email address and I’ll send it to you.

2

I sell the Crane Lake line of wines in WI. Down under is line priced with Crane Lake ($3.08 btl wholesale).

Just met with the Bronco Regional Rep two weeks ago. Fred will be Fred. He got an amazing price on bulk juice and shipped it to the states in bulk bladder. He then finnished the wine stateside.

Fred does not get involved unless Fred is making $$$$.

Thier is a red comming real soon.

They are changing the label however!

3

Bill – Thanks for sending the complaint. This would make a great law school case study, because there are arguments on both sides. It certainly doesn’t seem like a slam dunk for the Yellow Tail side, because the labels don’t seem to be that similar. On the other hand, Fred Franzia’s intent looks pretty clear.

Perhaps the most interesting thing in there was the figure of 44.5 million cases of Yellow Tail shipped from 2002-08. (The complaint equates that to 375 million bottles, which doesn’t compute if you’re talking 12-bottle cases of 750 ml bottles, but whatever.)

4

Your welcome John…there seems to be lot of mud slinging in the complaint but it doesn’t appear to me that the labels used on the actual products are confusing…I have no horse in the race but it will be interesting to watch.