• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Advertise
  • About Craft Brewing Business

Craft Brewing Business

Professional Insight, Unfiltered

Craft Brewing Business Craft Brewing Business
  • News
  • Business & Marketing
  • Packaging & Distribution
  • Equipment & Systems
  • Ingredients & Supplies
  • Webinars & White Papers
  • News
  • Business & Marketing
  • Ingredients & Supplies
  • Packaging & Distribution
  • Equipment
  • Webinars & White Papers
  • COVID-19

Courts help brewers protect their recipes and techniques from employee theft

April 15, 2019Dan M. Forman

craft brewing trademark dispute

The following post was sent to us from Carothers DiSante & Freudenberger LLP Unfair Competition & Trade Secret Practice Group. Their blog is located right here.

Craft brewers celebrated National Beer Day on April 7 with more comfort that Courts will help them protect their recipes, brewing processes and other trade secret information against rogue employees who take such information.

Suggestion: Attend CBB‘s free webinar — Bottling Your Brand: What Craft Brewers Need to Know about Trademark Protection by clicking right here.

A dispute brewing since 2013 came to a head on March 20, 2019, when the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the lower court’s decision that Anheuser-Busch could prosecute its civil claim against a former employee accused of taking recipes and other trade secret information and providing that information to lawyers to support a different class action lawsuit against Anheuser-Busch.  Anheuser-Busch v. Clark, No. 17-15591 (9th Cir., not for publication, March 20, 2019).

Anheuser-Busch required its employees to enter into agreements to protect its confidential information, return all confidential information at termination of employment, not disclose the confidential information and, following termination, upon request, certify that the employee had not disclosed or used any confidential information. 

In 2013, a former employee, Clark, convinced one of his former co-workers to send him an email containing a page of information containing Anheuser-Busch’s recipe and other information, and then sent that information to the plaintiff’s lawyers in a class action case that was filed immediately thereafter.  Clark also refused to provide the requested certification.

Clark filed an Anti-SLAPP motion to try to defeat the claims.  An Anti-SLAPP lawsuit is supposed to prevent meritless litigation designed to chill first amendment rights.  If a defendant establishes that the challenged case arises from protected activity, the plaintiff, here Anheuser-Busch, must meet the challenge of demonstrating a probability of prevailing on the merits. 

In 2015, the Ninth Circuit, in this same case concluded that the lawsuit was based on Clark’s actions in furtherance of protected activity.  So, the lower court conducted a lengthy analysis to conclude that Anheuser-Busch demonstrated that its recipes and methodologies were subject to trade secret protection, used reasonable means to protect its secrets, that Clark misappropriated the trade secret information and breached his contractual obligations to Anheuser-Busch. And, on this “round” to the Ninth Circuit, it agreed that Anheuser-Busch demonstrated a likelihood of success.

Before finishing your beer, be sure that you have consulted with counsel to ensure you have updated your employment confidentiality agreements and practices to protect against the theft of your recipes, techniques, methods and other trade secret information that differentiates your brand from others.

Dan M. Forman is the Los Angeles Office Managing Partner & Chair of Carothers DiSante & Freudenberger LLP Unfair Competition & Trade Secret Practice Group.

Sonic restaurant chain sends Colorado’s Wiley Roots Brewing a cease and desist over Slush series branding
Abita Bayou Bootlegger studio image cbb crop
Bootlegger’s Brewery and Abita Brewing settle their trademark disagreements
Trademark craft beer
The family feud over the Schlafly craft beer trademark has ended
trademark craft beer dispute
Trademark dispute: Two Missouri craft brewers and a light bulb image

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

Primary Sidebar

Latest News

  • State of California Craft Beer: Covid recovery challenged by competition, consolidation
  • MicroStar Logistics launches Network Services Division to manage reusable plastic pallets for the beer Industry
  • Analyst speculates on Heineken acquiring Boston Beer, stock jumps
  • United States Bartenders’ Guild now has access to WOTVS Hospitality Assistance Program

Sign up for our newsletter

unsubscribe from list

Most Popular Today

Recent Features

  • CCBA California Craft Beer SummitState of California Craft Beer: Covid recovery challenged by competition, consolidation
    March 23, 2023
  • Koga-brothers-karben4Karben4 Brewing to relaunch Ale Asylum brand
    March 20, 2023
  • 4 steps to understanding the filtration process in craft beer
    March 20, 2023
  • newbelgium_2023_wildnectar-shopping-basket_family_IMG_2Beyond beer: Examples of craft breweries exploring canned cocktails
    March 16, 2023
  • brooklyn 35 featureBrooklyn Lager turns 35 and more beers to know this week
    March 14, 2023
  • Backwoods Brewing to open a 19-acre resort called Party Acres in the Columbia River gorge this May
    March 13, 2023

Footer

  • Email Newsletter Sign Up
  • About Craft Brewing Business
  • Contact Us
  • Advertise on Craft Brewing Business
  • Media Kit Download
  • Privacy and Terms

© 2023 · CBB Media LLC