NEWS: Yalumba and Pernod Ricard in court fight over use of ‘signature’
Posted: Tue Jun 07, 2016 11:17 am
Yalumba and Pernod Ricard in court fight over use of the word ‘signature’ on wine labels
June 6, 2016 9:00pm
Steve Rice
The Advertiser
http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/sout ... d9dffe62f8
ONE of South Australia’s wine luminaries is involved in a legal battle with a global winemaker over the use of the word “signature” on its labels.
Adelaide based wine merchant Samuel Smith and Son — owned by the Hill-Smith family — has taken its dispute with Pernod Ricard to the Federal Court.
The Hill-Smith family runs one of Australia’s oldest family owned wineries, Yalumba, at Angaston, which carries The Signature range.
Lawyers for Samuel Smith and Son claim Pernod Ricard have engaged in “deceptive similarity” by using the trademark “Signature” name on its Jacobs Creek Reserve Barossa Signature range.
But Pernod Ricard has denied the accusation, saying the label reflects the geographical location and characteristics of the wine.
Yalumba’s The Signature range is an award-winning, flagship red wine that every year carries a new and different signature of a family member or senior worker on its label.
Samuel Smith and Son merchants was established in 1923 and is also a distributor of popular beverages including Coopers, Carlsberg, Kronenbourg 1664, Hills Cider and Jim Barry Wines.
Yalumba has been operating in the Barossa Valley for 166 years and its chairman Robert Hill-Smith — whose great-great grandfather established the winery — attended court for the hearing yesterday.
Helen Rofe, for Samuel Smith and Son, said the Jacobs Creek Barossa Signature label was being used as a trademark.
“The Barossa Signature does not do anything different to our essential (The) Signature, which has been taken,” she said.
“We find it hard to ascertain the descriptive meanings ... it is not descriptive of (Barossa) characteristics.”
Bruce Caine, for Pernod Ricard, said his clients did not engage in any deceptive similarity and that the Jacobs Creek Barossa Signature label was used adjectively to describe a style.
“It is not used as a noun to signify a person’s name or mark,” he said. “(Barossa and Signature) are visually paired and it is wrong to disaggregate them.
“There is nothing about (Yalumba’s) The Signature that conveys any regionality at all.”
Mr Caine said Pernod Ricard had acted honestly and without any ulterior motive.
Pernod Ricard is the global winemaker for some of the most popular Australian wine brands. The hearing, before Justice Natalie Charlesworth, continues.
June 6, 2016 9:00pm
Steve Rice
The Advertiser
http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/sout ... d9dffe62f8
ONE of South Australia’s wine luminaries is involved in a legal battle with a global winemaker over the use of the word “signature” on its labels.
Adelaide based wine merchant Samuel Smith and Son — owned by the Hill-Smith family — has taken its dispute with Pernod Ricard to the Federal Court.
The Hill-Smith family runs one of Australia’s oldest family owned wineries, Yalumba, at Angaston, which carries The Signature range.
Lawyers for Samuel Smith and Son claim Pernod Ricard have engaged in “deceptive similarity” by using the trademark “Signature” name on its Jacobs Creek Reserve Barossa Signature range.
But Pernod Ricard has denied the accusation, saying the label reflects the geographical location and characteristics of the wine.
Yalumba’s The Signature range is an award-winning, flagship red wine that every year carries a new and different signature of a family member or senior worker on its label.
Samuel Smith and Son merchants was established in 1923 and is also a distributor of popular beverages including Coopers, Carlsberg, Kronenbourg 1664, Hills Cider and Jim Barry Wines.
Yalumba has been operating in the Barossa Valley for 166 years and its chairman Robert Hill-Smith — whose great-great grandfather established the winery — attended court for the hearing yesterday.
Helen Rofe, for Samuel Smith and Son, said the Jacobs Creek Barossa Signature label was being used as a trademark.
“The Barossa Signature does not do anything different to our essential (The) Signature, which has been taken,” she said.
“We find it hard to ascertain the descriptive meanings ... it is not descriptive of (Barossa) characteristics.”
Bruce Caine, for Pernod Ricard, said his clients did not engage in any deceptive similarity and that the Jacobs Creek Barossa Signature label was used adjectively to describe a style.
“It is not used as a noun to signify a person’s name or mark,” he said. “(Barossa and Signature) are visually paired and it is wrong to disaggregate them.
“There is nothing about (Yalumba’s) The Signature that conveys any regionality at all.”
Mr Caine said Pernod Ricard had acted honestly and without any ulterior motive.
Pernod Ricard is the global winemaker for some of the most popular Australian wine brands. The hearing, before Justice Natalie Charlesworth, continues.
Should have prefixed with "imagine these wine names"...