litigation

A federal judge in California dismissed a class action suit against Jim Beam on August 21, 2015. The suit—Welk v. Beam Suntory Import Co.—concerned whether Beam’s use of the term “handcrafted” on its Bourbon labels is misleading to consumers. The court’s holding—that it is not misleading—and the case’s dismissal mark yet another win for Beam in a series of consumer fraud suits that have been brought against it (as well as a host of other alcohol producers) since 2014. Beam also did very well in this similar case, concerning Maker’s Mark.

Welk began back in February 2015, when Plaintiff Scott Welk filed a class action complaint alleging that Beam’s use of the term “handcrafted” on its Bourbon labels was misleading. According to Welk, “handcrafted” means “created by a hand process rather than by a machine.” Welk argued that the “mechanized” and “automated” process that Beam uses to make its Bourbon could not fairly be characterized as “handcrafted.”

In its defense, Beam claimed that TTB federal approval of its label provided it with a safe harbor that insulated it from label-related consumer fraud claims. Beam also argued that reasonable consumers are not actually misled by the term “handcrafted” because it is merely puffery that is not relied upon by consumers when they make their decision...

This morning I awakened to find yet another lawsuit about sketchy alcohol beverage labels. It sounds like Red Stripe is being sued for being a fake Jamaican, like the guy depicted off to the right. I am going to see if my colleagues John and Frank are around to liveblog this with me, this Friday morning.

John:  is the above label roughly representative?

Not really. This one is more representative because it shows Red Stripe made in Pennsylvania, instead of the above label showing a beer made in Great Britain. Most of the recent label approvals show made in the U.S. (not Jamaica or Great Britain).

My initial view of the label is, this lawsuit may be one of the worst yet. The label seems to do an excellent job of saying, front, center, not small, not low contrast, that the product is JAMAICAN STYLE (not necessarily “Jamaican”). In point of fact, JAMAICAN STYLE tends to imply it’s not Jamaican at all, at least in Battle Martin-land (he approved this label for TTB and famously maintained that, e.g., a “Spokane Style Beer” could not be made in Spokane). The label also mentions Product of Great Britain (or BREWED & BOTTLED BY RED STRIPE BEER COMPANY, LATROBE, PA), to fairly...

At long last, MillerCoors filed its response, in the Blue Moon case, on July 13. The company makes some good arguments, and to my ear, these seem best:

1. MillerCoors is expressly authorized by state and federal law to use the Blue Moon Brewing Company trade name.
   1. The safe harbor doctrine applies where either state or federal law has blessed the conduct at issue. (Here, MC nemesis, A-B, did the former a huge favor in the form of winning the Lime-A-Rita case just in time.) The company is careful to point out that the laws and regulations, not necessarily the label approvals, create the safe harbor.
   2. Should a court find liability under these circumstances, where a registered trade name is used instead of the parent company name, it would dramatically change the way that many corporations operate, effectively standing corporate America on its head. Trade names are used in many industries, and many brands have surprising corporate relationships. Just to name a few: Jiffy Lube is owned by Shell Oil Company, Haagen-Dazs is owned by Nestle in the U.S., Taco Bell and Kentucky Fried Chicken are owned by Yum! Corporation and Ben & Jerry’s ice cream is owned by Unilever.
2. The company’s trade name and trademark registrations put Plaintiff...