moroney@jon.DEC (Mike Moroney 223-9038) (07/24/85)
>> (r) >> Ummm... I'm pretty sure that Coke owns one of the California wineries. >> (Maybe Taylor California, I'm not sure...) That's right. My brother boycotts Coke-owned products sporadically because some of their sue-happy lawyers got after a smallish New York State wine bottler named Taylor for using "their" trademark. He didn't try to sell his wine as Taylor Wine or anything (he uses the name "Bully Hill"), he just had his signature on the bottle "So-and-so Taylor, Master of the Estate." He wasn't an upstart, the winery has been in the Taylor family for quite a long time. >They also apparently own a large portion of the orange groves down here That's because Coke owns Minute Maid Orange Juice. Mike Moroney ..decvax!decwrl!rhea!jon!moroney
silber@lasspvax.UUCP (Jeffrey Silber) (07/28/85)
With all due respect to Walter S. Taylor, owner of Bully Hill Winery, the reason that Coca-Cola won the suit which required him to delete his name from his product is that Coca-Cola bought Taylor Wines (before they sold them to Seagrams) from Walter S. Taylor and his father. In that transaction they sold the company name as well. Bully Hill Vinyards has probably received more free publicity by having to delete the name Taylor from their bottles (they read: Bully Hill Vinyard, Walter St-----) than he could have engineered otherwise.