In response to my “House Big Enough For Two” posting, dated April 20, 2009, a friend reminded me of an interesting interaction between Sullivan Vineyards (of Napa) and what was a new winery in Sonoma also called Sullivan Birney Winery & Vineyards. After starting in 1998 and entering the wine industry full-time in 2004, Rick Sullivan and Jonelle Birney Sullivan received a trademark infringement letter from Sullivan Vineyards (of Napa) that the Sullivan Birney Winery name was causing confusion in the marketplace. Rather than cause a kerfluffle, Rick and Jonelle changed their winery name to Navillus Birney – “Navillus” of course is Sullivan spelled backwards.
Sullivan Vineyards (of Napa) got to keep their good name, under which they have sold big Napa reds since 1981. Rick and Jonelle got to issue a self-congratulatory press release on their creative name change, and then exited the wine business by selling to Audelssa in 2007.
If a "Joe Sullivan Plonk" were to pop up out there with a wine blog, I wouldn't be to happy either. See, trademark lawyers are people too... I guess.
Best, Joe Plonk
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