Drac-stic move on wine
Plenty at stake as US winemaker sues over vampire drop
A Hollywood lawyer who has a “side hustle” of producing and selling vampire-themed wine is suing the makers of Penfolds wine, Treasury Wine Estates, for its Halloween holiday red wine featuring the image of Dracula and which he argues is sucking the lifeblood out of his company.
Treasury Wine has earned the ire of lawyer and winemaker Michael Machat and landed itself in the Central District Court of California for its 19 Crimes Dracula red blend, with Mr Machat claiming that the Australian winemaker “unjustly enriched” itself through the unauthorised use of his trademarks that cover the mythical blood sucker and the undead, Dracula.
The Penfolds winemaker has been accused of knowingly producing its Draculathemed wine even though someone else owned the trademark, but relied upon its market power and resources to pay attorneys to “fight this out in court while they cash in unlawfully” on the wine.
Mr Machat claims that Treasury Wine’s 19 Crimes Dracula wine infringed his trademarks and when sold through bottle shops, bars and online was likely to “cause confusion, mistake, and to deceive the public at large”.
The 19 Crimes label has been a huge success for Treasury Wine, whose large wine portfolio includes Penfolds, Wolf Blass and Lindemans, with the cheeky 19 Crimes label beginning its marketing life featuring 19th century convicts banished to the Australian prison colonies and more recently doing branding deals with celebrity criminals like Martha Stewart and Snoop Dogg. Its Halloween launch featured Dracula red blend and a Frankenstein cabernet.
Mr Machat is demanding extensive penalties from Treasury Wine including at least $US15 ($22) for every bottle of the infringing wine sold in the US, plus treble damages, and as much as $US36 per bottle of 19 Crimes Dracula sold in bars and restaurants.
The court documents claim Treasury Wine sold its infringing Dracula red blend for $US18 a bottle and earned around $US15 profit from each bottle it sold on its website and $US5 per bottle earnings for wine sold through retailers.
Mr Machat was unavailable for comment when contacted.
A spokeswoman for Treasury Wine said: “Treasury Wine Estates treats the intellectual property rights of others with the utmost respect. We stand by the integrity of our brands but we cannot make any further comments regarding this case while it remains pending.”