For these reasons, we always encourage anyone setting out to establish a new brand to first make sure you are not using someone else's name and then to take steps to protect your rights to the name by filing a federal trademark application early on. Many of the issues we describe can be prevented or easily resolved if you hold the federal trademark or have a pending application for it. State trademark and other name filings have limited usefulness in protecting your name. (See "A Word About. Protecting Your Trade Names and Respecting the Names of Others.")

We hope this article has given the marketers enough compliance know-how to keep you safe from pitfalls, and to make you dangerous--to your competitors! If so, you are well prepared to take advantage of the marketing power of multiple personalities.

End Note: Protecting Your Trade Names and Respecting the Names of Others

Since trade names are registered under state, not federal, law it is possible for two wineries to have registered the same trade name if they are different states. And, as the article explains, TTB will actually allow them both to use the same trade name for bottling without mutual consent. However, sharing a name is not a good idea. First, you risk consumers confusing your wines in the increasingly national wine market. Second, the winery with a head start on using the trade name may have the legal right to stop those who started later from continuing to use the name, under so-called common law principles.

So, before getting your heart set--and your hard-earned money spent--on developing a name, obtain a thorough search of the trade names and trademarks in use already.

Then, once you've settled on a name, we highly recommend obtaining federal trademark registration as soon as possible. Help prevent confusion and conflicts by carefully monitoring the use of your trade name whenever you authorize others to bottle for you. Always grant permission to use your name in writing, and ask for copies for your records of all TTB paperwork filed by the other permittee. It would also be a good idea to ask the bottling winery to remove the trade name from its permit if you have no plans to bottle there again.

Despite all your best precautions (or in the absence of sufficient precautions in the past), if you have a conflict over the use of a trade name or trademark, we encourage you to seek legal advice from an attorney specializing in trademark and trade name protection.