No Product Confusion? No Trademark Case

When a California winery attempted to block a Canadian company’s similar trademark for an apple juice product- both marks included variations on the word “Pinnacle” – the winery was rebuffed by the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board. Knobbe Martens attorney Diane M. Reed, in an article for World Trademark Review, explains what happened when the winery, Franciscan Vineyards, took its case to the Federal Circuit: An ex parte precedent notwithstanding, the appeals court said that Franciscan had failed to prove a likelihood of confusion.