FN Cellars, which for 15 years has marketed its wines under the name Nickel & Nickel, filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, alleging that Klein Foods, which does business as Rodney Strong Vineyards and produces the Three Nickels wine, purposefully infringed its trademark.
“Rather than going to the effort and expense of developing and creating its own unique, source-identifying brand name, Klein Foods deliberately and knowingly adopted a mark — the Three Nickels mark — which is confusingly similar to plaintiff’s well-known Nickel & Nickel trademarks,” the complaint said.
FN Cellars argues that Klein intends to sell the wine through the same network of distributors and to the same retail accounts that currently carry its Nickel & Nickel brands, which would confuse consumers and dilute its brand.
FN Cellars has used the Nickel & Nickel name since 2000 and had it officially registered with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in 2001, according to the suit. Last year, the vineyard sold 32,000 cases of wine and grossed close to $19 million in sales.
It wasn't until August that Klein applied to register the Three Nickels name, according to the complaint, and in November the government issued the trademark.
Nickel & Nickel Vineyards is located in Oakville, California, about 70 miles west of Sacramento. Three Nickels is located in Healdsburg, California, about 40 miles west of Oakville.
Just last month, FN Cellars reached an out-of-court settlement with another winemaker, Union Wine Co., that accused the company of trademark infringement for using the name “Bella Union.” The terms of the settlement were not made public.
FN Cellars is represented by Douglas Andrew Winthrop of Arnold & Porter LLP. Winthrop declined to comment on the pending litigation.
Counsel information for Klein wasn't immediately available. Rodney Strong Vineyards did not immediately respond to requests for comment Thursday.
The case is FN Cellars LLC v. Klein Foods Inc. d/b/a/ Rodney Strong Vineyards, case number 3:15-cv- 05158, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.
--Additional reporting by Bill Donahue. Editing by Philip Shea.
