Friday, August 6, 2010

Contest- help us in our struggle against big business

Today has been interesting. This morning, I got a letter from a law firm stating that I have 14 days to "Cease and Desist" with any business use of the words "Epiphany Wines". You see, there is a big company out there- I won't name them- that bottles a wine using the same first word as my name. Evidently, they also own the trademark on the word "Epiphany". They feel that some customer somewhere in Missouri might get confused that my company (whom the general public rarely even hears the name of) is the same company that bottles the wine.

Never mind the fact that we are a wholesale distributor, and they are producing a wine label, and the two companies will never step on each other's toes.

So, I have a couple of choices- I can fight this, go to court, and most likely win. I can see if they will play nice in the sandbox, and ignore my lowly little three person operation. Or, I can change the name of the company. Frankly, I don't have the cash to spend on a lawsuit in Federal court, regardless of the fact that I would probably win because I'm not infringing on anyone's trademark. Because the winery in question is so big, I doubt they will play nice. So, I must change the name of my company.

Here's the contest- If you can email me a name for the new company by 6 PM on Sunday, and we end up using it, Jeff Stettner (owner of 33 wine bar, and champion of all things small business related) has said that he will give you a 12-bottle case of wine of his choosing (read: From My Company) for $1.

That's right folks- Name a Company, win wine for a buck.

My email is kyle@epiphanywines.com and I look forward to hearing your suggestions.

Peace.

1 comment:

  1. I was gonna suggest "Revelation Wines" but I googled it and it looks like Epiphany makes one called that already. So that's a no go.

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