Two beers + One similar name = A lawsuit. With the expansion of craft breweries owners have come across a shortage of quirky names, labels and signature fonts to associate with their unique brews. According to The Salt, an NPR food blog, many breweries are now struggling to keep their creative juices flowing considering that a lot of clever designs and slangs have already been snatched up. Many landmarks have also already been trademarked in the creation of new and upcoming craft brewery names, and believe it or not specialty lawyers have had to step in to call out brewers who unknowingly rip off others. When two craft IPAs share a eccentric name, but are sold in different regions no problem is posed, however it gets tricky when two brews or even breweries with similar names reside and sell in the same location, and this is when the legal spats begin.
With more than 3,000 breweries in this country alone it is no surprise that more than one spot has tried to claim the same play on words, the terms“Hopscotch”, Bitter End” and “420” have all already been fought over. Of course, the more beers the merrier, but we hate to see nasty disputes amongst those who are dedicated to making one of our favorite beverages. We can only hope that when future confrontations arise, that they look to breweries Avery and Russian River. The two brands set a positive example when they both realized they were selling a similar beer named Salvation, and in turn combined both beers to create one, naming it Collaboration Not Litigation. Peaceful negotiation over beers, it’s what we like to see and we hope that more creativity and compromise will solve the Craft Brewery disputes.