Napa receives Certification Mark

The Napa Valley has received a ‘Certification Mark’ from the US Patent and Trademark Office – the first of its kind for a winemaking region in the US.

The Napa Valley Vintners association (NVV) has hailed the news as “another milestone in the NVV’s ongoing efforts to protect the integrity of the Napa Valley name and prevent consumer deception.”

The certification has taken more than five years to secure and required more than 100 brand owners to register the mark, 50 to show the name was already in usage and then a further 50 to “demonstrate enforcement of the certification mark”.

Scott Gerien, trademark attorney for Dickenson, Peatman & Fogarty, which advised the NVV in this matter, said: “Working with other countries to obtain protection for the Napa Valley name, it became clear we needed similar status here at home to be taken seriously when requesting support outside the U.S. It’s taken us a long time to register this Mark and we’re grateful to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for their assistance.”

“It was an arduous process that took many years to complete,” said Rex Stults, the NVV’s government relations director. “Needless to say, we’ve popped open a couple of bottles of Napa Valley sparkling wine to celebrate.”

The news comes soon after Napa Valley secured recognition in Israel and Turkey.