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Craft brewers, let’s learn the hazards of skimping on trademark research

April 3, 2019Ali Smith

craft beer trademarks

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

You’ve come up with the perfect brand name for your product — it’s catchy, clever and memorable. You waste no time affixing your trademark to your product packaging, signage, website, advertising, t-shirts, the works. You launch your new brand and your customers respond just as you knew they would — by opening their wallets. There’s just one little problem: another company is already using the same trademark. What starts with a formal cease and desist letter ends with your having to toss out your new brand — and all the expensive marketing you’ve invested in. Now you’re back to square one, scrambling for a new trademark.

Far-fetched scenario? Unfortunately, it’s all too common.

Just ask the owners of Hardihood Brewing of Colorado, who were forced to change their business name to Maxline Brewing just one day before their grand opening due to a conflict with an existing trademark. Ditto for another beer company, Absolute Threshold Brewing, which renamed itself after a trademark dispute with Absolut Vodka.

An organic juice bar in Denver called Sol Kitchen found itself embroiled in a trademark infringement lawsuit brought by the company that owns SOL Cocina, a California restaurant looking to open a location in Colorado. The owners of Sol Kitchen said the allegation of infringement “came as a complete shock.”

New Orleans-based clothing company Monkey Hill Apparel was forced to change its business name after two years in the marketplace when a clothing company with a similar name complained. The owner of Monkey Hill said she had no idea the trademark was already registered to someone else.

What’s missing from all these stories? Three words: effective trademark research.

In many cases, business owners fail to do a trademark search at all. Or they think a simple web search is sufficient to confirm that their trademark is available for use. But web search engines are not designed for trademark research. Their algorithms are not intended to assess trademark similarity for legal purposes.

Other business owners may believe that a search of the trademark office online database is sufficient due diligence.

But these databases are not comprehensive, and they do not identify trademarks that are in use in the marketplace but not registered. This is critical, because in some jurisdictions — including the United States — the first party to use a trademark in commerce may have prior rights to that mark, even if it isn’t registered.

Think small businesses fly under the radar? Think again.

If your business has a website, your brand is visible globally. Smart brand owners are actively watching the web for instances of potential infringement of their trademarks. If they come across your mark, you can expect to hear from them … or from their legal counsel.

Moral of the story: Don’t skimp on trademark research when developing a new brand for use in the marketplace, whether it’s a product or service line name, or logo or design.

So how can you search your trademark to minimize the risk of infringement?

That’s a question you should ask at Craft Brewing Business‘ and Trademark.com’s exclusive free webinar — Bottling Your Brand: What Craft Brewers Need to Know about Trademark Protection. The webinar will be held April 25, and you can sign up via the link above or below. What’s in store?

  • Why register your trademark, and what are the risks of not registering?
  • Tips on developing brand names with trademark clearance in mind.
  • The trademark registration process, step by step, and potential pitfalls.
  • The importance of monitoring your trademark — and how to respond if you suspect someone is infringing on your brand.

To sign up for free for Bottling Your Brand: What Craft Brewers Need to Know about Trademark Protection, click right here.

Ali Smith is the product marketing manager for Trademark.com.

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Sign up for this free CBB webinar — Bottling Your Brand: What craft brewers need to know about trademark protection

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