4.1-405 - Sale of winery.
§ 4.1-405. Sale of winery.
A. Except for discontinuance of a brand or for good cause as provided in §4.1-406, the purchaser of a winery shall become obligated to all of the termsand conditions of the selling winery's agreements with wholesalers in effecton the date of purchase. The purchaser of a brand from a winery shall becomeobligated to all of the terms and conditions of the selling winery'sagreements with wholesalers concerning that brand. Whenever such a purchaseof a brand results in the creation of a dual distributorship, the provisionsof subdivisions 1 and 2 of subsection B will determine the distributionrights to such brand or any extension thereof. For the limited purpose ofmaking such determination, the winery selling the brand shall be anonsurviving winery and the purchaser shall be a surviving winery.
B. For purposes of this section, when a purchase of a winery by or on behalfof another winery causes the selling winery to cease to exist as anindependent legal entity, the selling winery shall be regarded as anonsurviving winery, and the winery on whose behalf the purchase was madeshall be regarded as a surviving winery. In any case in which such apurchase of a winery by or on behalf of another winery has created or willcreate a dual distributorship, the following rules shall apply in order todetermine the allocation of any brands which are first marketed in theCommonwealth by the surviving winery after February 18, 1989:
1. If the surviving winery distributes in the Commonwealth brands of thenonsurviving winery which that winery marketed anywhere prior to thepurchase, these brands shall be distributed through any wholesalers who weredistributors in the Commonwealth for the nonsurviving winery. If thenonsurviving winery had no distributors in the Commonwealth, then thesurviving winery's brands, as well as the brands of the surviving winerywhich were marketed anywhere prior to the purchase, shall be distributedthrough those wine wholesalers who were wholesalers of the surviving wineryprior to the purchase.
2. If the surviving winery decides to market in the Commonwealth a new brandwhich was not marketed anywhere prior to the purchase, but which is clearlyan extension of a brand which did exist prior to the purchase, the new brandshall be distributed through those wholesalers who distributed the brand ofwhich the new brand is an extension.
3. If the surviving winery decides to introduce in the Commonwealth a newbrand which was not marketed anywhere prior to the purchase and which is nota brand extension, the new brand may be distributed through any distributor.
(Code 1950, § 4-118.26; 1985, c. 542, § 4-118.46; 1989, c. 10; 1993, c. 866.)