Plenty, if you’re a wine maker.

Stellenbosch wine estate, Dombeya, was recently threatened with legal action by Distell Group Limited for using the name ALTUS on the label of one of its red wines.  Distell took exception to the name, based on its ALTO Wine Estate range of wines, and argued that use of the name ALTUS constituted trade mark infringement.

Although Dombeya was of the opinion that it would have been able to successfully defend a trade mark infringement suit, it maintains it made a business decision to rather change the name, from ALTUS to FENIX, as the cost of litigation is extremely high and generally only 40% of costs can be recovered.

What this matter does highlight is the importance of conducting a pre-filing search of the Trade Marks Register, to ascertain whether your proposed trade mark, whether a word mark and/or a device mark, conflicts with other marks in the relevant class of interest (as well as all conflicting or related classes).

For more information, please contact:

Andrew Papadopoulos

Director
Trade Mark Attorney
Email andrewp@kisch-ip.com
Tel +27 11 324 3012