According to the Wall Street Journal, the producers of Yellow Tail Wine are suing the producers of Little Roo for trademark infringement. They are claiming that the kangaroo on the label of the Little Roo bottle is a knockoff of the wallaby on Yellow Tail’s bottle.
Casella Wines Pty. Ltd., the Australian maker of Yellow Tail, says in papers filed in a New York federal court that the kanagaroo on Little Roo’s label is portrayed in profile, is leaping and “is oriented in the same direction” as the wallaby on the Yellow Tail bottles. Casella Wines contends that wallabies are “indistinguishable to most people” from kangaroos.
The Wine Group LLC, which makes Little Roo and is the second largest wine supplier in the United States, says Casella Wines is jumping to conclusions, and in a December court filing, the company “denies that the Australian wallaby is interchangeably referred to as a kangaroo.”
Casella exports more than $1 billion in Yellow Tail shiraz, chardonnay, and other varietals each year, to more than 50 countries. The wine sells for about $7 per 750-milliliter bottle. Little Roo was on the market for about two years before Casella filed the lawsuit against them last October. It is sold in 18 states, primarily in the Safeway and Publix grocery chains, and goes for about $6 per bottle.
Lawyers from the two sides are talking. “We are always willing to accommodate a concrete, legitimate concern,” said David Kent, the Wine Group’s chief executive. “They have been unable to produce one.”
