Dueling To Kalon lawsuits — Constellation & The Vineyard House — scheduled for trial in federal court

 

The dueling lawsuits concerning The Robert Mondavi Winery’s near monopoly over the use of the To Kalon designationon wine played out to a Coronavirus-empty court room in the San Francisco U.S. Federal District Court for the Northern District Of California.

 

Instead of in-person appearances, Judge Yvonne Gonzales Rogers ordered lawyers for Constellation Brands and The Vineyard House (TVH)  to call in for a phone conference call for their Friday the 13th compliance hearing.

 

 

The conference was held and the judge set Bench Trial dates for 5/4/2020 through 5/8/2020 and 5/11/2020. Witness lists are to be filed by 4/10/2020.

 

There is no indication if the trial will face further COVID-19 restrictions or delays.

The dispute in short:

• RMW maintains it has the exclusive intellectual property (IP) rights to use “To Kalon” on its wines and other materials.
• The Vineyard House contends that “To Kalon” is a place and because it is a geographic locale, the name is not subject to IP registrations and restrictions.

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The remainder of this article and 17 full court document filings are available for to Wine Executive News premium subscribers

Exhaustive previous coverage

The dispute between The Vineyard House and the Robert Mondavi Winery subsidiary of Constellation Brands has been well detailed in previous articles in this and other publications:

• To Kalon lawsuit all about myth, Benjamins, and grapes at $38K/Ton
• Robert Mondavi Winery (RMW) Sits in the To Kalon Vineyard. Its Owner Says There’s No Such Place
• Lawsuit Filed Against Constellation Brands Over Mondavi’s Alleged Misuse of Napa’s Famed To Kalon Vineyard Name
• Vineyard House Seeks Injunction To Stop Constellation Brands From Using “To Kalon” Labeled Wines

 

Litgation Summary

A brief never is (brief)

 

Full court filings for Wine Executive News Premium Subscribers

Constellation & Vineyard House – Combined case

• Constellation-Vineyard House Joint Statement 030220
• VineyardHouse v. Constellation Order Combining cases 022520.pdf

Constellation v. Vineyard House

• Constellation v. VineyardHouse Docket Image 420 cv 00238 YGR 011020.png
• Constellation v. Vineyardhouse Complaint 011020.pdf
• Constellation v. Vineyardhouse Complaint Exhibit Civil Cover Sheet 011020 1 7.pdf
• Constellation v. Vineyardhouse Complaint Exhibit A 011020 1 1.pdf
• Constellation v. Vineyardhouse Complaint Exhibit B 011020 1 2.pdf
• Constellation v. Vineyardhouse Complaint Exhibit C 011020 1 3.pdf
• Constellation v. Vineyardhouse Complaint Exhibit D 011020 1 4.pdf
• Constellation v. Vineyardhouse Complaint Exhibit E 011020 1 5.pdf
• Constellation v. Vineyardhouse Complaint Exhibit F 011020 1 6.pdf
• Constellation v. Vineyardhouse Motion For Preliminary Injunction 011020.pdf

Vineyard House v. Constellation

• Vineyard House v. Constellation 4 19 cv 01424 YGR DocketImage 031120.png
• Vineyard House v, Constellation Complaint 031819.pdf
• Vineyard House v, Constellation Complaint Exhibits A-K 031819.pdf
• Vineyard House v. Constellation – Dismissal With Leave To Amend – 062719
• Vineyard House v Constellation Request For Preliminary Injunction 111819.pdf