Stone Brewing\u2014widely known for its popular IPA and other craft brews\u2014recently cast the first stone in a trademark dispute with the conglomerate that owns Keystone. In its complaint for trademark infringement, Stone Brewing alleges that MillerCoors, a subsidiary of Molson Coors Brewing Company, altered its marketing strategy to emphasize the \u201cSTONE\u201d portion of the beer\u2019s name, thereby potentially confusing consumers who might conclude that the two beers are somehow related. Stone Brewing has plenty of fun with its claim, asserting that its \u201cawesome brand\u201d is being stolen, that the gargoyle that graces its beers is typically \u201cslow to anger,\u201d and referring to Keystone as a \u201cwatered-down imitation of beer.\u201d All joking aside, though, Stone makes it clear that it is stone-cold serious when it comes to asserting its rights, stating that it intends to seek injunctive relief and treble damages for the infringement.<\/p>\n
Stone Brewing has owned the trademark for the word STONE as associated with beers and ales since 1998. Stone claims that MillerCoors was aware of this fact since at least 2007, when it applied to register the mark \u201cSTONES\u201d with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). The USPTO ultimately denied the application because of potential confusion with Stone Brewing\u2019s preexisting mark.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s worth noting here that one may acquire rights to a trademark even without registration. While the owner of an unregistered trademark may enjoy certain protections, registering the mark is far more protective, entitling the holder to sue infringers for damages in federal court.<\/p>\n
Stone\u2019s registration of its mark will be helpful in its claim, but it still must show that MillerCoors\u2019 rebranding will cause a \u201clikelihood of confusion\u201d between the two brands. The fact that both companies sell beer, and that they\u2019re both using the word \u201cstone\u201d in connection with their product, are layups. It will be interesting, though, to see how each side addresses other relevant factors\u2014such as their respective marketing strategies, distribution channels, and sophistication of their consumers\u2014to argue for or against confusion. Whatever the case, it\u2019s clear that the result of this lawsuit isn\u2019t set in stone.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Stone Brewing—widely known for its popular IPA and other craft brews—recently cast the first stone in a trademark dispute with the conglomerate that owns Keystone. In its complaint for trademark infringement, Stone Brewing alleges that MillerCoors, a subsidiary of Molson Coors Brewing Company, altered its marketing strategy to emphasize the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":87,"featured_media":854,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[100,99,101,98,97,77],"class_list":["post-850","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-trademarking","tag-craft-beers","tag-ipa","tag-keystone","tag-millercoors","tag-stone-brewing","tag-trademark"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n