alcohol beverages generally

A few months ago, big law firm Foley Hoag compiled a marvelous list of trademark scuffles, within the alcohol beverage category, during the past year. We already knew there were scores of tussles, and the list was growing ever longer, but we never quite realized how fast the casualties are stacking up. The article shows at least 50 such disputes.

Of all those, the Atlas dispute is the one that caught my eye. Because it’s local, must be crushing news for whoever lost, recent, and I had not heard about it but for the Foley article. Foley explained:

The Atlas Brewing Company of Chicago opposed Atlas Brew Works’ application to register ATLAS for beer. The Opposer alleged that “Atlas” was primarily descriptive of a geographic area within Washington D.C., which is where the Applicant is located (“Atlas” is apparently an unofficial nickname of the H Street District). The TTAB rejected this argument, finding that consumers were unlikely to make the connection. The TTAB agreed with the Opposer that there was a likelihood of confusion between the marks, but it found that the Applicant was the senior user (the TTAB did not accept the launch dates of the Opposer’s Twitter and Facebook accounts as establishing priority). The petition was dismissed. Atlas Brewing...

I don’t mean to keep harping on the Tito’s Vodka cases — but there sure are a lot of them — and they are important. Because there are so many, it is not easy to keep track of how it’s going, hence this handy Scorecard. Most of the cases are slowly grinding along, with no clear winner or loser (as shown with the ⇔ symbol). At one extreme, the Aliano case went especially well for Tito (⇑). At the other extreme is the Hofmann case (⇓). In late November Judge Miller allowed Hofmann, the first-filed case, to go forward, past the defendant’s motion for summary judgment. It got even worse, five days later, when the court gave the plaintiffs permission to go into the plant and see exactly how Tito’s Vodka is made, despite the company’s strong objections.

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  We reached out to Tito and his lead lawyer to make sure we are not missing anything important, and to ask a few questions, as follows. From early on, Tito said he knew it was going to be a long haul.

How’s it going? Business has continued to be good. The lawsuits have been a distraction. But our consumer base is growing, and they have been extremely loyal. They appreciate Tito’s Handmade Vodka for...

We have been following various cocktail controversies in recent months, and we again thought of this one today because it appears that it got settled in recent days. Regardless of the exact, current, status, the main point remains — it really is possible to get into a full-blown trademark dispute over cocktail names, as this situation shows.

This tempest in a mug is all about … What do you need to make a real Dark ‘N Stormy®? According to Gosling Brothers Ltd.—the owner of several registered trademarks over DARK ‘N STORMY—any brand of ginger beer will do, but you better use Gosling’s Black Seal® Rum. Those planning to do otherwise may want to garnish their cocktail with a large wedge of trademark-infringement-defense.

By Frank Knizner, J.D. and Michael Volz, Attorney

A Dark ‘N Stormy®, like a Painkiller®, or a Sazerac™, is one of a handful of trademarked cocktails. On September 15, 2015, Gosling sued Pernod Ricard USA, LLC alleging that Pernod’s use of “Dark N’ Stormy” and “Black Stormy” in recipes and advertising containing Pernod’s Malibu line of rums infringed several of Gosling’s DARK ‘N STORMY registered trademarks. The case—Gosling Brothers Ltd. et. al. v. Pernod Ricard USA, LLC.—was filed in federal district court in Massachusetts.

The alleged trademark infringement stemmed from Pernod...