UMAMU ESTATE WINS TRADEMARK DISPUTE

UMAMU Estate is pleased to share with our community the below news. This development represents the commitment to and importance we place on our name, brand and all that it underpins.

UMAMU ESTATE ENDS ELEVEN YEAR CHASE IN TRADE MARK DISPUTE.

A legal stouch lasting over a decade over a wine brand has ended this week with an alleged trade mark infringer capitulating and disposing of his stock.

Premium Australian wine brand UMAMU Estate has been in a trade mark dispute with Eddie MacDougall over his use of the brand “Umami” on wine. Mr Dougall presently runs a business called The Flying Winemaker in Wyndham Street in Central, Hong Kong.

UMAMU Estate is located in the Margaret River wine region in Western Australia. The Margaret River region is recognised as one of the best wine producing regions on the planet, and produces 20% of Australia’s premium wines. Of these, UMAMU Estate is internationally recognised as one of the region’s leading producers of ultra-premium wine.

UMAMU Estate is an export-quality wine offered in Hong Kong and other export wine markets, and is for domestic retail sale within Australia. It is rated a five star producer by esteemed Australian wine reviewer James Halliday and has been awarded 14 gold medals over the last decade at the Decanter World Wine Awards. The brand “UMAMU” is a registered trade mark in six countries.

The dispute between UMAMU Estate and Mr. McDougall with regards to the use of the name “Umami” started in 2007, and involved demands by UMAMU Estate in Australia and Hong Kong for Mr McDougall’s agreement to not to use the name “Umami” or any mark that is identical or deceptively similar to the “UMAMU” brand.

“This has been a long process, but a necessary one in order to protect the brand’s integrity given Mr McDougall’s wines were a fifth of the price of those from UMAMU Estate,” said David Stewart, lead lawyer on UMAMU Estate’s anti-counterfeiting program. “We’re presently involved in a similar dispute in France, recently concluded one in the United States, and we are always on the lookout in China given systemic problems suffered by other Australian wines. But our issues with Mr McDougall have had remarkable longevity.”

Mr McDougall has agreed to never again promote or sell wines featuring the “Umami” brand. 31 August 2018.