Beckstoffer Vineyards Sues Last Bottle for Trademark Infringement

Beckstoffer Vineyards Sues Last Bottle for Trademark Infringement

Beckstoffer Vineyards has filed a lawsuit in the Northern District Federal Court in San Francisco against Last Bottle and its affiliated company Sleeper Cellars for trademark infringement.

The Complaint was lodged on 11th February, 2023 accusing that Blicker Pierce Wagner Wine Merchants, LLC and its affiliated companies, Sleeper Cellars, and Last Bottle, willfully committed trademark infringement by placing the Beckstoffer trademark on the front label of a wine without permission.

The wine, which was bottled or labeled by Sleeper Cellars, was sold on Last Bottle in early February, and used the name "Beckstoffer To Kalon" on the front label. Ostensibly knowing that the conduct was unlawful, Last Bottle promoted the wine stating, "There's a lot more secret stuff we can't tell you about…but really, we already let the cat out of the bag when we typed "Beckstoffer To Kalon"—no doubt our legal counsel is furious…not to mention the all-powerful To Kalon Illuminati."

Further, the Complaint names a party as DOE 1 and alleged that DOE 1 sold the wine to Sleeper Cellars in breach of its Grape Purchase Agreement with Beckstoffer Vineyards. The party will be added to the lawsuit, once the identity of the party is ascertained.

Beckstoffer Vineyards' wine business counsel Daniel Reidy stated, "it is puzzling why these wine companies would place these valuable and well-known trademarks on a wine label without authorization. But then to brag about the unlawfulness via a marketing promotion boggles the mind."

He further added, "typically, when we see wine label infringements it is because someone got too close to a mark or missed it in a search. In those cases, we try to find a solution short of legal action. This incident does not appear to be anything of the sort, and my client had little choice but to file this lawsuit to protect its winery licensees' rights."

Andy Beckstoffer, the owner of Beckstoffer Vineyards, in his statement remarked, "We have worked hard over the past 50 years to ensure truthfulness and integrity to all that we do and to protect our winery licensees' rights to the Beckstoffer marks and vineyard designates. It flies in the face of our winery licensees, who invest substantial resources to buy our grapes and sell their wine. We cannot allow an unlicensed party to flaunt the law and damage our winery licensees."

Founded in 1970, named "Napa's most powerful grape grower" by both the Wall Street Journal and Wine Spectator, Beckstoffer Vineyards is firmly rooted in the soil of Northern California's wine country, with Andy Beckstoffer playing an integral role in the evolution of the wine grape industry since 1970.