Abstract
While wine labeling in the United States is currently governed by a complex regulatory framework administered by the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (“TTB”), intellectual property (“IP”) rights for wine producing regions could serve this core function of protecting consumers better and more efficiently. Regulating wine labeling through IP would more closely mirror the system used by the European Union, which recognizes Geographical Indications, such as Champagne, Rioja, and Bordeaux, as a unique form of IP. By deregulating American wine labeling, and encouraging wine producing regions to assert their IP rights in the form of collectively held certification marks, (1) vintners will be free to define the standards for their own regions, (2) the force and effect of these standards will be increased extraterritorially, (3) the cost of enforcement for these standards will be shifted from the public sector to the private sector, and (4) there will be widespread economic benefits for many geographic regions in the form of tourism and regional growth.
Recommended Citation
David Corasaniti, Cultivating Legal Protection: Replacing Wine Labeling Regulations with Regional Certification Marks, 82 Wash. & Lee L. Rev. Online 492 (2025), https://scholarlycommons.law.wlu.edu/wlulr-online/vol82/iss6/1
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Administrative Law Commons, Agriculture Law Commons, Commercial Law Commons, Food and Drug Law Commons, Intellectual Property Law Commons