Report: Local winery sues to defend its name in trademark dispute
– Wine Business reports –
Hawks Hill Ranch Winery files complaint against Hawk Hill Vineyard
– A Paso Robles winery seeks a court order to make sure it can use the “Hawks Hill” brand to sell wine without infringing on the trademarked name of a Sonoma County vineyard, according to the federal lawsuit, Wine Business reports.
Hawks Hill Ranch LLC – or Hawks Hill Ranch Winery LLC – of Paso Robles filed a lawsuit this week against William and Margaret Yarak, the owners of the vineyard named “Hawk Hill Vineyard,” according to court records. “Hawk Hill Vineyard” — unlike “Hawks Hill” — is trademarked.
The owners of Hawks Hill Ranch seek a court order to protect their use of “Hawks Hill Ranch” name, according to their complaint. They want to make sure it “does not constitute trademark infringement” of the Yaraks’ trademarks “or “violation of any other federal or state statutory or common law right of defendants,” according to the lawsuit.
The complaint was filed on March 13 in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California in San Francisco, a few days after an attorney for the Yaraks sent a letter to Hawks Hill’s owners, Peter Kuyper and his son, Thomas Kuyper.
Read the full story in Wine Business
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