Page 262 - NEWNORMAL_ANIMATED

NEW NORMAL

WINE LABELS AND LAW

Although I‘m a graduate lawyer, I don‘t name. It‘s not free but it‘s cheaper than scra-
like combining the art of wine and the aus- ping labels from 20,000 bottles - in the best
terity of law. However, there are times when case.
it is better not to avoid such contact - on the Recent time appreciates everything that is
contrary: look for it. „retro“. You can, of course, create an etiquette
And one such opportunity is the redesign that has a historical impression - that‘s fine.
of old labels or the design of new ones. Unfor- However, you might also think of modifying
tunately, we cannot give you general advice; the beautiful old label of a non-existent wine-
diametrically different rules apply in different ry. However, be careful! Trademarks and copy-
countries, even within the Euro- rights live their own lives and they don‘t
pean Union, let alone the care that the winery doesn‘t even
USA or China. exist for years! You could easily have
However, regardless of a conflict concerning the rights of the
where you make your wi- artist who created the label or with
nes, we advise you: when the heirs who inherited the trade-
you and your graphic de- mark rights; Although they do not
signer finalize the desired use them (and will claim in court
form of your labels, you that only temporarily), they
should also consult a will defend themselves
specialized law firm be- against their abuse.
fore starting their pro- And then there are
duction. some regulations that
Check the label for eve- limit what you can say
rything the given country‘s about your wine and what you
regulations require. can‘t. Did your grandfather become famous
Make sure it does not include anything for- for his medicinal wine with your high iron
bidden. content, which helped improve hematopoie-
If you decide to put medals on the bottles sis? Was it even sold at the pharmacy and the
as proof of awards in competitions, make sure doctor issued a prescription for it? And do you
where you send wines because of such deco- make it exactly according to the recipe he left
rations. An organiser of a wine competition you? Yes but he lived in another time!
(national or international wine competition) The most terrible thing I‘ve ever drank or
held in France cannot award wines with Great actually just tasted was red onion wine (really
Gold. Only gold or silver. But for the compe- fermented from grapes and red onions), which
titions run outside France, if a French produ- is sold in pharmacies in Inner Mongolia, the
cer gets a Great Gold or Platinum in a foreign northern region of China, in bottles and bag-
country he is allowed to stick the medal on his -in-boxes as a medicine to help fall asleep fast
bottle. Crazy? French... and strengthen sleep. They believe it is very
You should also pay attention to trade- healthy and helping beverage! And they can
marks and protected industrial or artistic say it!
designs. A specialized office will do the re- Hungarian winemaker Pál Ribarics is now
search for you to make sure your new label is trying hard to fight the European Union in an
not in conflict with any protected design or effort to return to common sense and bring
262