Image: HERBERT P.OCZERET
The Salzburg-based fizzy giant has not accepted the letter in which Sardinian wine producer Mattia Muggittu claims his right to use the logo featuring two fighting animals and has objected to the farmer’s application to trademark the logo. The logo registered by the Sardinian company at the Patent Office shows two oxen standing side by side, with a red plow underneath. The winery’s young owner, 23-year-old Muggittu, is resisting Red Bull’s request. He has already bottled and packaged 2,000 liters of wine. The wine was made on his family’s five-hectare vineyard.
“We have until mid-March for an arbitration between the parties and we will do our best. After that, the patent office will have to start the procedure and decide on the case. Mattia feels like David against Goliath: he knows he has strong arguments has on his side that can lead to victory,” emphasized Muggittu’s lawyer Mauro Intagliata, according to the media.
“We didn’t imitate Red Bull’s logo in any way. Our wine label is a homage to the wine-growing traditions of Mamoiada (in the Sardinian province of Nuoro). It doesn’t show bulls, but oxen, which are a symbol of our viticulture. Because we still plow with oxen ‘ Muggittu pointed out. He asked the Italian farmers’ association Coldiretti for support in the fight for his logo – which was also promised.
In his fight against Red Bull, the winegrower received a lot of solidarity. “The support of my compatriots helps me in a very difficult time for me. I have received hundreds of messages from Sardinians emphasizing that this is the fight of all Sardinia against a world colossus. I have also received statements of solidarity from Austria and that made me feel good surprised,” reports Muggittu.
“I’m an oenology student and after years of bureaucracy I finally managed to produce my first bottle of wine. Shortly afterwards, however, Red Bull hit me. Now I’ve hired a lawyer and I’m getting back on my feet: a global giant can’t do it prevent using a symbol of my history and culture”.
Red Bull is no stranger to such lawsuits: Last October, the company lost its lawsuit against Bullards, a British gin company. The British Intellectual Property Office (IPO) rejected the request by the Austrian fizzer group that Bullards, with around ten employees, should refrain from a number of goods and services, including events and energy drinks and non-alcoholic beverages, due to the risk of confusion.
Source: Nachrichten
