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Purple Rain wine dispute settled with Prince’s estate

31 July 2024 By James Evison

A settlement has been agreed in a trademark dispute between L’uva Bella Winery and the estate of musician Prince regarding the former’s Purple Rain wine.

L’uva Bella Winery was sued in 2021 when the estate of the artist formerly known as Prince argued that its “Purple Rain” wine brand would be confused with the musician’s most famous song.

According to legal records, the dispute concluded last month after the parties reached a confidential settlement agreement. The details were not revealed, and the petition was withdrawn without prejudice — leaving the potential for it to be refiled later.

The lawyer defending L’uva Bella had argued in a defence that Prince’s refused to drink. “To the extent Prince was famous, he was equally famous for his disdain of alcohol…the fans of Prince, knowledgable about his beliefs and views, would never associate an alcohol-containing product with the artist.”

Prince once described “drugs, sex and alcohol” as experiences which “can be very funky, but they’re just paths, a diversion, not the answer.”

Prince recorded Purple Rain in 1983 and it was released the following year alongside the film of the same name. The song is listed on Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Songs of All Time at number 18. For the film’s score, Prince received an Academy Award. Purple Rain-Concord is an off sweet red wine which retails for $7.99 and is described as “multi-award winning”.

L’uva Bella has been labelling wines as Purple Rain since 2015. In 2019 it received the trademark for grape wine branded as Purple Rain. Lawyers representing Prince’s estate argued that there was no doubt that “Purple Rain signifies Prince”.

As one of the major wine distributors in the eastern United States, the Ohio-based company prides itself on making wine “fun” and “approachable”.

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