Group that oversees DOC designation for prosecco tells court it is not seeking transfer of domains.
The Consorzio di Tutela della Denominazione di Origine Controllata Prosecco, the Italian body responsible for administering and protecting the Denominazione di Origine Controllata (DOC) designation for prosecco, has dropped its claim to the domain names prosecco.com and proseccoDOC.com in a U.S. court proceeding.
Last year the Consorzio initiated legal action in the United Kingdom. U.S.-based Best Drinks, LLC, which asserts it is the current registrant of those domains, responded that the earlier UK suit named prior domain owners rather than the company now holding the registrations.
Best Drinks then filed a separate lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia seeking a declaratory judgment to resolve ownership and related disputes. In response to the Virginia case, the Consorzio informed the U.S. court that it would no longer seek the transfer or ownership of the prosecco.com domains.
That concession removed the basis for exercising personal jurisdiction over the Consorzio in the U.S. The Virginia judge found there was no personal jurisdiction required to proceed, which under the Lanham Act is necessary for a registrant to obtain declaratory relief absent an actual court order affecting domain ownership. As a result, the court moved to dismiss the case.
The Consorzio’s trademark action in the UK remains active, but the organization clarified in the Virginia proceeding that its UK claims are limited to seeking trademark remedies in the United Kingdom and do not challenge who owns the contested domain names.
Jeffrey Neuman, attorney for Best Drinks in the U.S. action, said the outcome represented a tactical victory for his client. “Although we lost the battle, we won the war,” Neuman said, noting that the Consorzio stated on the record it was no longer contesting ownership of prosecco.com and 25 other prosecco-related domain names.
The developments show how parallel proceedings in different jurisdictions can produce distinct outcomes and strategic decisions. While the Consorzio pursues trademark enforcement in the UK, it has stepped back from seeking domain transfers in the U.S., leaving the registrant free of an adverse U.S. court ruling on ownership for now.
The dismissal in Virginia resolves the immediate dispute there and underscores the importance of jurisdictional questions in cross-border domain and trademark litigation. The parties may still face further legal activity in the UK, but as to the U.S. matter, ownership claims to the named prosecco domains are no longer being contested by the Consorzio.