An international brewing company that uses a red-and-orange “#9” mark on one of its brands is suing Lexington, Ky. craft brewer West Sixth Brewing Co., which uses a black-and-green “6.” “If it was on a coaster, and the person across the table was colorblind and fairly stupid, I suppose there might be some initial confusion. … there might be a problem if somebody is holding their beer upside down.” [Lowering the Bar; Kentucky.com]
4 Comments
The same brewery sent a nastygram to a local Seattle brewery selling a beer called 9 lb. Porter. It was especially ridiculous given that the beer was brewed specifically for a bar called 9 lb. Hammer (and Magic Hat wasn’t even distributed locally at the time). Nice people, huh?
Since they are so insistent on defending the number nine, just wait for the inevitable lawsuit against Sesame Street.
@Sean P…. Lawyers have to eat, too, you big meany.
I think there’s a legitimate complaint here, actually. When I saw the West Sixth beer in the store, I thought it was a new Magic Hat beer (I’m a beer geek constantly on the hunt for new brews to try). I’m not a trademark lawyer, so I can’t speak to whether it meets the legal requirements for a dilution complaint, but the brewery’s complaint doesn’t strike me as specious as the LTB article makes it out to be.