Rare Breed Distilling has filed a trademark infringement action in a Kentucky federal court alleging that Jim Beam Brands’ use of “Give ‘Em the Bird” in connection with its Old Crow bourbon whiskey “is likely to confuse and deceive consumers and purchasers of bourbon whiskey products.” Rare Breed Distilling LLC v. Jim Beam Brands Co., No. 11-292 (W.D. Ky., filed May 13, 2011). Rare Breed has apparently used “Give Them the Bird,” which evolved into “Give ‘Em the Bird,” since 2006, in connection with its Wild Turkey® bourbon whiskey products. The plaintiff alleges that Jim Beam adopted identical marks for use and filed a still pending application to register the mark in March 2010. According to the complaint, Jim Beam has refused to acknowledge Rare Breed’s prior rights to the mark and continues to use it. Alleging federal trademark infringement and unfair competition, and common law unfair competition, the plaintiff seeks…
Tag Archives alcohol
California EPA’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) recently finalized its decision to add ethanol in alcoholic beverages and Chinese-style salted fish to the state’s list of carcinogenic chemicals. The listing was effective April 29, 2011. Companies that sell products containing listed chemicals in California are required to notify consumers that their products contain a chemical known to the state to cause cancer under the Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986 (Prop. 65). More information about OEHHA’s decision appears in Issue 385 of this Update.
The Cancer Council Australia (CCA) Alcohol Working Group has published a position statement in the May 2011 Medical Journal of Australia, claiming that alcohol use causes cancer and that any level of consumption “increases the risk of developing an alcohol-related cancer.” According to the statement, an analysis verified by “external experts” found that “the level of risk increases in line with the level of consumption” and that an estimated 5,070 cases of cancer “are attributable to long-term chronic use of alcohol each year in Australia.” It also noted that “alcohol use may contribute to weight (fat) gain, and greater body fatness is a convincing cause of cancers of the oesophagus, pancreas, bowel, endometrium, kidney and breast (in postmenopausal women).” CCA recommends that consumers (i) reduce “the risk of alcohol-related harm over a lifetime” by drinking “no more than two standard drinks on any day,” and (ii) reduce the risk of…
Attorneys general (AGs) from 23 states and Guam have submitted comments to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in response to its proposed collection of information from alcohol advertisers. The information relates to “compliance with voluntary advertising placement provisions, sales and marketing expenditures, the status of third-party review of complaints regarding compliance with voluntary advertising codes, and alcohol industry data collection practices.” Agreeing that the information collection is in the public interest, the AGs recommend that FTC “seek advertising and promotional expenditure data on an ongoing and regular basis, not just intermittently.” They also urge FTC “to encourage the alcohol industry to move to a standard limiting advertising to media where no more than 15% of the audience is between the ages of 12 and 20.” The April 26, 2011, comment further calls for FTC to “include a brand analysis in its coming report,” noting that these beverages are marketed by…
Clos LaChance Wines has filed a complaint in a California federal court seeking a declaration that “Mommy” is not a protected trademark when used on a wine label and that the company’s domestic wine products, “MommyJuice White Wine” and “MommyJuice Red Wine,” do not infringe defendant’s “Mommy’s Time Out®” imported wines. Clos LaChance Wines, LLC v. Selective Wine Estates, Inc., No. 11-1848 (N.D. Cal., filed April 18, 2011). Clos LaChance apparently began using its label in August 2010; it includes an image of a woman with four arms juggling a computer, house, cell phone, and teddy bear. Selective Wines, whose label contains an image of an empty chair facing a corner alongside a small table with a bottle and wine glass, purportedly sent a demand letter to Clos LaChance accusing it of infringing Selective’s trademark and demanding that Clos LaChance cease and desist from using the name “MommyJuice” in connection with…
Maryland’s attorney general (AG), joined by the AGs of 17 states and the territory of Guam, have expressed to Pabst Brewing Co. concerns over the company’s “new flavored malt beverage, Blast by Colt 45,” characterizing it as a “flavored ‘binge in a can.’” In his April 21, 2011, letter, Attorney General Douglas Gansler alleges that selling a fruit-flavored beverage with an alcohol concentration of 12 percent in brightly colored 23.5 ounce cans, “poses a grave public safety threat and is irresponsible.” He contends that the target market includes underage consumers, “in violation of state law.” According to Ganlser, each can contains 4.7 servings of alcohol and, if consumed quickly as intended, an individual “will have engaged in binge drinking, putting himself or herself at risk of serious injury and other health and safety problems.” The AGs call on Pabst’s CEO to “take immediate steps to significantly reduce the number of servings…
“When Aubert de Villaine received an anonymous note, in January 2010, threatening the destruction of his priceless heritage unless he paid a one-million-euro ransom, he thought it was a sick joke,” writes Maximillian Potter in this May 2011 Vanity Fair article chronicling “an unprecedented and decidedly un-French” plan to poison the world’s most famous vineyard, La Romanée-Conti. Considered the Holy Grail of Burgundy, the eponymous wines produced by this 4.46-acre, centuries-old vineyard currently sell for $6,455 per bottle, with 1945 vintages fetching upward of $38,000 per bottle. According to Potter, it was only a few months before a record-setting auction of Romanée-Conti that “word of the attack began seeping into the world beyond Burgundy,” which has since sought to keep the affair quiet. Potter traces the remarkable crime from early 2010, when vineyard owner de Villaine began receiving anonymous ransom demands in the mail, to the arrest of a career…
Czech and U.S. brewers seeking to market their beers under the name “Bud,” have apparently been at odds since the early 1900s. In the latest installment of the dispute, the Court of Justice of the European Communities has set aside a decision of the Court of First Instance which allowed the Czech brewer to oppose Anheuser-Busch’s registration of “Bud” in Europe. Anheuser-Busch Inc. v. Budějovický Budvar, No. C 96-09 (E.C.J., decided March 29, 2011). While the Court of Justice upheld some of the lower court’s rulings, it determined that the lower court erred (i) in the factors it relied on to decide if a “sign,” or trademark, in opposition to a new registration was used in a sufficiently significant manner, and (ii) in holding that the use of the sign in opposition does not necessarily have to occur before the date of the application for new registration. According to the Court…
Flying Dog Brewery has filed a lawsuit under the First Amendment, alleging that the Michigan Liquor Control Commission and its individual members violated its free speech rights by prohibiting the company from selling Raging Bitch Twentieth Anniversary Belgian-Style India Pale Ale. Flying Dog Brewery, LLP v. Mich. Liquor Control Comm’n, No. __ (W.D. Mich., filed March 25, 2011). According to the complaint, a British artist, who once worked with journalist Hunter S. Thompson, designed Flying Dog’s beer labels, including the one at issue. The defendants rejected Flying Dog’s application for a license to sell the pale ale in the state, allegedly finding “that the proposed label which includes the brand name ‘Raging Bitch’ contains such language deemed detrimental to the health, safety, or welfare of the general public.” Claiming loss of sales and goodwill, the plaintiff alleges that its label constitutes expression protected by the First Amendment and seeks preliminary and…
According to news sources, a New Jersey tire salesman has filed a personal injury lawsuit in a state court against the company that makes Four Loko®, an alcoholic beverage that until late 2010 also contained caffeine; he alleges that after drinking two and one-half cans, he was taken to a hospital with heart arrhythmia. Mustica v. Phusion Projects, No. __ (N.J. Super. Ct., Atlantic Cty., filed March 16, 2011). Each can purportedly contained the equivalent of three cans of beer and the same amount of caffeine as two cups of coffee. While the maker of the energy drink apparently continues to maintain that mixing alcohol and caffeine is safe, it agreed to remove caffeine from the product in November 2010. The plaintiff claims that he consumed the beverage on a visit to Atlantic City in October, fell asleep and, on waking, had a racing heart and trouble breathing. Alleging permanent…
