Food and Beverage Law Updates from Alcoholic Beverage and Food Law Advocates
The recent kerfuffle between Knee Deep Brewing Co., and Sony Pictures Television over Knee Deep’s use of Breaking Bad (trademarked by Sony) iconography and imagery for their Breaking Bud IPA provides an opportunity for a good reminder about the defense of parody to trademark infringement. When done right, this time-honored, and statutorily codified defense to […]
At yesterday’s Illinois Liquor Control Commission board meeting, the director said that in addition to discussing federal trade practice rules and some issues concerning the ongoing investigations that the entities are engaging in, the upcoming June 13 learning sessions hosted by the TTB in Chicago regarding trade practices would be jointly hosted by the ILCC and […]
In early 2015, Wine Spectator questioned how serious the Chinese government was at addressing the problem of counterfeit wines and pointed to Alibaba’s site as a major culprit in promoting the sale of counterfeit bottles. A clever solution implemented by producers and brokers back then was the award of exclusive distribution rights within the country. […]
Apparently amateur chemistry isn’t for everyone. Especially not the thousands of mixologists and bartenders across the world who’ve been recommending and serving Moscow Mules in mugs with copper interior coming into contact with the acidic drink. Potentially poisoning drinkers in trendy restaurants from Portland to … Portland. The Iowa Alcoholic Beverages Commission recently reminded everyone […]
Some bad news for Atwater in its quest to trademark “Vanilla Java Porter” is good news for those hoping ingredients and styles and variants don’t end up receiving registration forcing breweries to have to challenge registrations to get them undone in order to use common terms in their labeling. You’re correct if you think this […]
You might not believe it unless you look like this: But Indiana’s current bar against beer wholesalers selling liquor or liquor wholesalers selling beer was just held constitutional because the state claims its “rational basis” was the increase of pricing to stem alcohol consumption. In Monarch Beverage Co., Inc. v. David Cook et al., Monarch […]
It’s a fairly typical clause in most distribution agreements, if not specifically stated in most state beer franchise laws – a promise that your distributor won’t transfer the franchise or the business (you want both and you’ll see why in a second) absent the brewer’s consent (which will not be “unreasonably” withheld). The 6th Circuit […]
Come on out to the Illinois Craft Brewer’s Conference on June 26th and 27th for two great days of education and information on brewing and related issues. I’ll be presenting with a great group of other experts on topics of interest. http://illinoisbeer.org/conference
As you all probably have heard, in Cadena Commercial v. Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission, the Texas Supreme Court recently weighed in on the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission’s decision to deny a license for retail sales to a group of convenience stores that wanted to sell alcohol because through a chain of ownership, one of the […]
The Sixth Circuit held the oral argument yesterday in the dispute between Southern Glazer’s and two craft brewers (Great Lakes Brewing and Boston Beer Company) looking to terminate their distribution relationship. You can listen to the argument here: We’ve written about this case a few times here and here noting that it is an […]
Franchise laws enslaving brewers to distributors often have vaguely worded “good cause” terms allowing a brewer to terminate a relationship when this beneficently named justification exists. A frequent criticism of these statutes is that when a distributor has acted in a fashion that would allow for termination under regular contract principles, these laws force brewers […]
As the US awaits a verdict in Lee v. Tam – a trademark dispute challenging a section of the trademark act (15 U.S.C. 1052(a)) refusing trademark registration for marks that are deemed immoral or scandalous, and the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s implementation and application of those restrictions – it would benefit us to be […]
In one of latest wins for brewers against deceptive labeling lawsuits brought against domestically made beers over branding that arguably conveys they are imported, Millercoors has scored a win for its Foster’s brand against a putative class action looking to cash in against the company. The lawsuit (you can read the amended complaint here) alleged that […]
