SA wine maker wins trademark victory
14 May 2009

The European Court of Justice has ruled in favour of a South African firm in a dispute with Irish glassware group Waterford Wedgwood.

After a 10-year dispute, Assembled Investments will now be able to market its wines as Waterford Stellenbosch in Europe.  Leanne Mostert, of Webber Wentzel, the lawyer representing Assembled Investments, said that the court’s ruling established that even where a proposed trademark was identical or similar in character, there still had to be some degree of similarity between the respective goods for there to be a likelihood of confusion.

“In the case in issue, the wine and wine glasses were sufficiently different for the two firms to share a name. The court found that the articles of glassware and wine were not similar (enough) goods to cause confusion,” Mostert said.  She said the decision set a global precedent.

The battle started when Assembled Investments applied for a European Union trademark for its wines sold in Europe to be called Waterford Stellenbosch. Waterford Wedgwood opposed use of the trademark on the grounds that the wine maker’s association with glassware and other products could confuse customers into thinking the products were related.

In 2004, it won a ruling that the products were visually similar, but last week the wine maker won on appeal. Waterford Wedgwood filed recently for bankruptcy protection.

Sanchia Temkin, www.businessday.co.za