A small wine producer in Sardinia accused by the maker of the energy drink Red Bull of copying its logo has said he feels as if he is in a David and Goliath battle against the Austrian company.
Mattia Muggittu, the owner of Muggittu di Mamoiada, had just produced his first bottle of wine, which features two traditional Sardinian oxen tied together on its label, when he received a legal notice from Red Bull claiming the image bore similarities to the one on its energy drink depicting two bulls charging at each other inside a golden sun.
“It was a heavy blow,” he said. “I’m only 22 and was just getting things going and needed positive things to happen, so this was very demoralising.”
Muggittu last year took over the running of what was originally his grandfather’s five-hectare (12 acres) vineyard in the central Sardinian village of Mamoiada and said the label for his debut bottle of wine – a cannonau made from the red grape native to the Italian island – was “in no way a copy” of Red Bull’s.
He called the wine Boeli – after a large sacred stone dating back to the late Neolithic period that was discovered at the entrance of Mamoiada in the late 1990s – and labelled it with the two oxen, which are still used to plough older vineyards in Sardinia, tied together by a yoke. The logo also represents the cup marks found on the sacred stone.
“I wanted to reflect a tradition of Sardinia, and especially Mamoiada, where for centuries oxen have been used to plough vineyards – these animals are a symbol of agriculture here,” he said. “Red Bull never even occurred to me.”
Muggittu was contacted by the Austrian company with the alleged copyright infringement soon after registering the brand with the chamber of commerce. He has two months to reach an agreement with the company. “If that fails then I would go to trial against Red Bull,” he said. “It feels like David and Goliath.”
Red Bull said in a statement: “Following our standard company policy, we cannot comment on any pending legal matter.”
Muggittu has so far produced 2,000 bottles of Boeli and only sells it in Sardinia. That compares with the 11.5bn cans Red Bull says it sold across the world in 2022, contributing to the Austrian company’s €11.6bn (£10.25bn) turnover.
“I am young and am doing this for passion,” he said. “I can’t compete with Red Bull and neither does it interest me.”
Muggittu’s plight has drawn solidarity from people across Sardinia and Austria, helping to relieve him from “a dark period” and encouraging him not to renounce his business goals.
“So many people are on my side, telling me that this is a battle between Sardinia and a global giant,” he added. “I want to expand the company and this won’t stop me.”
