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An industry leader, The Wine Group is one of the world’s foremost producers of award-winning wines across more than 60 wine brands and many winery facilities in California, New York, and Australia. Headquartered in Livermore, California, TWG is an industry innovator when it comes to developing, marketing, and selling wine brands beloved by consumers around the world, including Cupcake, Franzia, Benziger, Imagery, Tribute, 7 Deadly, Cooper & Thief, The Dreaming Tree, Charles Smith Wines, and more. The Wine Group believes in producing wine using sustainable and earth-friendly practices to foster healthy land and agriculture for generations to come. The company demonstrates environmental stewardship through its commitment to clean energy and by ensuring that all its owned vineyards are certified sustainable or biodynamic. To learn more, please visit: www.thewinegroup.com .

Job Summary

In this role you will have primary oversight of and responsibility for The Wine Group’s intellectually property portfolio, comprised predominantly of domestic and international trademarks and copyrights, as well as trade secrets. You will also have primary responsibility for ensuring our compliance with applicable privacy laws and helping to craft and improve our compliance framework in close collaboration with multiple other departments. This job is very much a “roll up your sleeves” type job requiring everything from running trademark clearance searches, to advising on M&A transactions, to staying up to date on the latest privacy issues and advising people at all levels on best practices for compliance. This is a great opportunity to join a highly regarded Legal department and make this role your own, gaining exposure to a variety of issues and working with almost every department in The Wine Group, all while learning about the alcohol beverage industry.

Essential Functions

• Protect and manage The Wine Group 's global intellectual property portfolios and rights.
• Conduct online, worldwide trademark and copyright searches and provide clear, business-focused advice and risk analyses.
• Prepare trademark and copyright applications, draft responses to office actions, develop evidence of use, and obtain registrations and renewals of trademarks and copyrights.
• Manage outside counsel’s work on our international trademark and copyright portfolios.
• Manage trademark oppositions, cancellations, and other intellectual property disputes.
• Provide litigation support for trademark matters.
• Lead The Wine Group’s data privacy efforts in collaboration with subject matter experts from other departments to ensure timely compliance with new and evolving obligations.
• Draft terms of use, privacy policies, FAQs, and other required policies and disclosures.
• Develop and present training materials to various departments on the above items.

Other Functions

• Advise on inbound and outbound intellectual property licenses on both a stand-alone basis and as embedded in other transactions.
• Manage The Wine Group’s quality control efforts with regard to intellectual property licensed to others.
• Conduct due diligence and advise on intellectual property and privacy related matters related to potential acquisitions.
• Advice on social media, advertising claims and substantiation, 3rd party IP rights, rights of privacy and other IP issues.
• Develop and improve department processes and systems improvement.
• Assist with other functions as requested by the Chief Legal Officer from time to time.
• This job description reflects management’s assignment of general functions; it does not restrict the tasks that may be assigned.

Qualifications

• JD from a top-ranked law school required.
• 6+ years of experience as a licensed attorney focused on trademark and intellectual property matters at a top-tier international law firm required.
• Additional in-house experience preferred, but not required.
• Must be a current, “Active” member in good standing of the California Bar.
• Expert-level understanding of, and expertise in trademark and copyright law required.
• Extensive knowledge of U.S. trademark rules and procedure; working knowledge of national laws of other countries; knowledge of Paris Convention and deadlines set therein and familiarity with the Madrid Protocol required.
• Ability and willingness to conduct trademark clearance searches, file applications and renewals, handle office actions and third-party objections and resolve disputes required.
• Proficiency with USPTO electronic trademark filing systems required; proficiency with CPI docketing system preferred, but not required.
• Experience creating, launching, training on, and enforcing data privacy and protection compliance programs.
• Tremendous attention to detail and outstanding negotiation skills required.
• Knowledge of alcohol beverage laws and regulations preferred, but not required.
• Experience advising clients on and managing numerous matters on tight deadlines with minimal, if any, supervision required.
• Able to quickly read, fully comprehend, and implement requirements of laws, regulations, and technical documents independently.
• Must be exceptional at communicating effectively in writing and verbally, as well as in presenting to groups in a compelling, persuasive, and entertaining manner.
• Willing and able to effectively and efficiently manage numerous high priority matters simultaneously and work extended hours when needed.
• Skilled in the use of the Microsoft Office suite of products at least at an intermediate level.

Physical Demands

• Primary work will take place remotely or in an office environment, however employee must be able to travel to and traverse The Wine Group’s vineyards, wineries, and other facilities from time to time.

Compensation

• Hiring Salary Range Posted: $246,400 - $315,000.
• Actual compensation will be based on factors such as experience; skills, knowledge, and abilities; education; and other position related factors.

At The Wine Group, we are proud to be an equal opportunity employer and we are committed to an environment of mutual respect, diversity, and inclusion. Qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, genetic information, national origin, disability, protected veteran status or other characteristic protected by law.

NOTICE TO THIRD PARTY AGENCIES

Please note that we do not accept unsolicited resumes from recruiters or employment agencies. In the absence of a signed Recruitment Services Agreement, we will not consider, or agree to, payment of any referral compensation or recruiter fee. In the event that a recruiter or agency submits a resume or candidate without a previously signed agreement, we explicitly reserve the right to pursue and hire those candidate(s) without any financial obligation to the recruiter or agency.

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