BUL 6930: Problem 1

A master vintner developed a process for boosting the polyphenol content of wine. Polyphenol is the substance that makes red wine beneficial for cardiac health. The case raises questions about ownership of the process and also other intellectual property issues.

LaFondu

Max LaFondu is employed as the master vintner at Wasabi Hills, a small winery in Oregon. He has been experimenting with the fermentation process of red wine to produce more polyphenols. Polyphenols come from the pigment of the grapes and are the substance that causes red wine to be heart healthy. LaFondu discovered in October 2018 that if he added pieces of beef liver to the grapes, sugar, and yeast that typify the normal winemaking process, the resulting wine contained over twenty percent more polyphenols. LaFondu attended the Little Old Winemakers annual conference in Napa Valley, California. He discussed with some of his fellow vintners the fact that he had been able to achieve an increase in polyphenols during fermentation. He revealed that beef liver was the ingredient, but was careful not to describe the process. Sherry Shiraz, a master vintner from another winery suggested that LaFondu call his new wine LifeWine, to indicate its benefits for a healthy heart. LaFondu gave permission to some student to use the LifeWine idea in a business plan at the University Center of Entrepreneurship; LaFondu thought that the business plan would be useful to him later. LaFondu started to get serious about commercializing LifeWine. He is not sure Wasabi Hills is willing or financially able to support the new process. He is contemplating taking the idea to larger wineries in New York, California, and France.

ISSUES PRESENTED

Who owns the new process?

What is the best way to protect the process?

Do you see any issues involving copyright, or trademark law?

If LaFondu could go back into time from the very beginning how should he have proceeded (differently)?

INSTRUCTIONS: You are representing Mr. LaFondu and are to advice him as to the above four questions. Answer all four questions above; view them as independent questions (answers to earlier questions do not impact the subsequent questions).

KEY WORDS: Employer-employee; process; patent; copyright; trademark; trade secrets; agreements; marketing; ownership; IPR protection; strategy; work for hire.