20When conducting a trademark search, it is very important to search across all similar types of goods for confusingly similar marks. Never is this more important than in the craft brewing industry. Failure to account for similar industries (i.e., other alcoholic beverage industries) can prove costly for any brewery.
A Boulder, Colorado brewery is learning this lesson the hard way as it faces a lawsuit by a Washington state winery for trademark infringement. Twisted Pine Brewing makes a Northstar Imperial Porter, which it sells across the country (as does Ste. Michelle with its Northstar wine). Ste. Michelle sent Twisted Pine a cease and desist letter in February of this year and has since filed suit. Note that Twisted Pine had been using the Northstar name since 2006, so it has nine-plus years of time and money invested in its brand (Ste. Michelle had been using its Northstar mark since at least 2003).
In any trademark dispute, the marks in question are analyzed to determine not only whether the marks themselves are confusingly similar, but also whether the goods (or services) sold are related. Importantly, the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) of the USPTO has explicitly found (multiple times) that beer and wine are related goods when considering a likelihood of confusion analysis (as are beer and distilled spirits, hard cider and mead). So, unless you want to potentially lose a lawsuit and pay the cost associated with changing an entire brand of your beer, the lesson here is to conduct a full trademark search either before usage, or early on in usage, and to check for confusingly similar marks representing wineries, distilled spirits and other alcoholic beverages.
20
