Wild Geese Irish Whiskey wins case to launch in Australia

Drinks distributor Protégé International has won a trademark case against Pernod Ricard in Australia to allow it to sell its 'Wild Geese Irish Whiskey' brand in the country.

Five Australian federal court judges found in favour of an appeal by Wild Geese Irish Whiskey concerning the non-use of trade marks by Wild Turkey.

The appeal relates to an attempt by Pernod Ricard, former owner of Wild Turkey, to prevent Wild Geese Irish Whiskey from market entry into the Irish Whiskey Category in Australia.

The action was initiated by Pernod Ricard in 2002 and then taken up by Campari when Wild Turkey was sold to the company in 2013.

The court action had sought to secure the ‘Wild Geese’ trademark in Australia and thereby prevent Wild Geese Irish Whiskey from trading in the Irish whiskey market.

The five presiding judges unanimously found for Wild Geese and also awarded indemnity costs.

Trademark war

Wild Geese is a range of whiskies procured from the former Cooleys Distillery. Protégé also markets a number of other spirits, such as Exiles Irish Gin and Untamed Irish Vodka, through its Avalon Group subsidiary. The company has been engaged in a trademark war with Pernod Ricard, former owners of the Wild Turkey bourbon brand, across a number of regions for the past 14 years.

Pernod, which sold Wild Turkey to Campari in 2013 for $574 million, previously initiated court action after claiming consumers could be confused by the similarity in brand names between Wild Geese and Wild Turkey.

Overall, the battle between Avalon and Pernod, which also owns Jameson Whiskey through its Irish Distillers subsidiary, has taken place across several geographies with more than 50 court actions over 14 years.

Ándre Levy, co-founder and chairman of Wild Geese Irish Whiskey, said the case was important for all smaller whiskey producers.

“These actions sought to limit the market access of Wild Geese Irish Whiskey and other smaller independent brands of which we are a representative. Despite the supposed renaissance of Irish whiskey, the reality is that the industry is still dominated by large organisations such as Pernod Ricard,” he said.