US lawyer turned winemaker suing Treasury Wine Estates over its 19 Crimes Dracula wine
When Treasury Wine Estates released a Halloween wine featuring Dracula it was just a bit of fun, but a Hollywood attorney turned winemaker is now suing.
A Hollywood attorney who has a ‘side hustle’ of producing and selling vampire-themed wine is suing the makers of Penfolds wine, Treasury Wine Estates, for its Halloween red wine featuring the image of Dracula.
Treasury Wine has earned the ire of lawyer and winemaker Michael Machat and landed itself in the central district court of California for its 19 Crimes Dracula red blend, with Mr Machat claiming in court documents the Australian winemaker “unjustly enriched” itself through the unauthorised use of his trademarks covering the mythical blood sucker.
The Penfolds winemaker has been accused of knowingly producing its Dracula-themed wine even though someone else owned the trademark, but relied upon its market power and resources to pay attorneys to “fight this out in court while they cash in unlawfully” on the wine.
Lawyer turned winemaker Mr Machat claims Treasury Wine’s 19 Crimes Dracula wine infringed his trademarks and when sold through bottle shops, bars and online were likely to “cause confusion, mistake, and to deceive the public at large”.
The 19 Crimes label has been a juggernaut success for Treasury Wine, whose large wine portfolio includes Penfolds, Wolf Blass and Lindemans, with the 19 Crimes label beginning its marketing life featuring 19th century convicts banished to the Australian prison colonies and more recently doing branding deals with celebrity criminals like Martha Stewart and Snoop Dogg.
Its Halloween launch featured a Dracula red blend and a Frankenstein cabernet, and Mr Machat is demanding extensive penalties from Treasury Wine including at least $US15 for every bottle of the infringing wine sold in the US, plus treble damages, and as much as $36 per bottle of 19 Crimes Dracula sold in bars and restaurants.
The court documents claim Treasury Wine sold its infringing Dracula red blend for $US18 a bottle and earned around $US15 profit from each bottle it sold on its website and $US5 per bottle earnings for wine sold through retailers.
A successful lawyer who is also one of the few private attorneys to argue a case before the US Supreme Court and win, Mr Machat has launched similar cases in the US against companies such as chocolate giant Hershey’s and restaurant chains Taco Bell and Applebee’s on behalf of his company Vampire Family Brands.
Mr Machat sold his first batch of Vampire wine called “Sip the Blood of the Vine” in 1988 to promote an album by shock rocker Alice Cooper and he is married to former 1980s British singer and model Lisa Dominique.
Together they run the Vampire Vineyards wine business with a large portfolio of Vampire-themed wine, spirits, coffee and chocolate. Vampire Vineyards first sourced its grapes in Algeria, then Italy and for around 10 years was able to source grapes from Transylvania, the legendary home of Dracula, and now sources its wine in California from Paso Robles to the Napa Valley.
He runs his firm Machat & Associates on Sunset Boulevard, West Hollywood and is the son of Martin Machat, a famous lawyer who represented black entertainers and singers established white law firms refused to work with.
His clients included middle weight boxer Sugar Ray Robinson, singers James Brown, Dinah Washington, Clyde Otis and Sam Cooke, and later worked for English artists, negotiating contracts for The Kinks, Herman’s Hermits, the Rolling Stones, The Who, Genesis, Peter Gabriel, Phil Collins, and US artists The Platters, The Four Seasons, Sly & The Family Stone as well as singer and poet, Leonard Cohen.
Mr Machat has shown a history of strongly defending his Vampire and Dracula trademarks which cover beverages such as wine, spirits, sangria and coffee, as well as chocolate and burgers.
His Vampire wines have become successful, and popular, featuring in the Blade films (starring Wesley Snipes) and HBO’s True Blood Series as well as shown on various national television shows in the US, such as The View, Anderson Cooper, CNN and MTV. They have also won numerous wine awards.
Now he has Treasury Wine in his sights.
In court documents lodged with the Californian court, Mr Machat claims Treasury Wine is liable for the damages caused to the plaintiff, his Vampire Vineyards business, as a result of the “illegal promotion, advertisement, offer for sale and/or sale of the accused products (wine) by its downstream retailers”.
“Defendants (Treasury Wine) have been unjustly enriched, among other things, by the receipt of sales revenues from consumers who mistakenly thought that they were purchasing plaintiff’s Dracula or Vampire goods and/or goods sponsored by plaintiff, but instead were purchasing defendants’ goods which are promoted and sold through advertisements that affirmatively misrepresent, either directly or by implication, the nature, characteristics, identity, and source or sponsorship of the goods.”
Mr Machat argues Treasury Wine acted with the unlawful purpose of improperly taking advantage of the valuable goodwill belonging to his Vampire Vineyards, soliciting his customers and potential customers, and attempting to sell wine goods marketed under the Dracula and Vampire trademarks.
“Defendants (Treasury Wine) knew of plaintiff’s prior existing and trademarked Vampire family of brands, and wilfully decided to infringe upon plaintiff’s trademarks because they are the largest premium wine company in the world and have the money to pay attorneys to fight this out in court while they cash in unlawfully exploiting plaintiff’s trademarks for a Halloween promotion designed to benefit defendants and harm plaintiff.”
Mr Machat argues his and the 19 Crimes wine are both sold online to the same consumers and to the same distributors and retailers, leading to further confusion among consumers.
Mr Machat was unavailable for comment when contacted by The Australian.
A spokeswoman for Treasury Wine said: “Treasury Wine Estates treats the intellectual property rights of others with the utmost respect. We stand by the integrity of our brands but we cannot make any further comments regarding this case while it remains pending.”
The case is continuing.
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