SAN FRANCISCO – A Santa Rosa company is suing a winery alleging that it unlawfully used the plaintiff's mark to advertise its product on the market.
Vintage Wine Estates Inc. filed a complaint on Feb. 29 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California against Dan Cohn Wine Cellars LLC, Daniel A. Cohn and Does 1 through 10, citing copyright infringement, unfair competition and other counts.
According to the complaint, the plaintiff alleges that it suffered damages to its business due to its mark being used by another company to sell its products. The plaintiff holds the defendants responsible because they allegedly sold their company, B.R. Cohn Winery, to the plaintiff but then started a new company bearing a similar name, Daniel Cohn Wine Cellars.
The plaintiff seeks the following: enjoin and restrain the defendants from using the mark Daniel Cohn on their products, recall all wine bearing the infringing mark from retailers, legal fees and any other relief this court deems just and proper. It is represented by J. Scott Gerien, Christopher J. Passarelli and Corinna M.W. Charlton of Dickenson, Peatman & Fogarty in Napa.
U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California Case number 3:16-cv-00988