Texas A&M Goes After Washington Brewery Over 12th Man Trademark
from the and-the-crowd-goes-wild dept
For some reason that I can't explain, the convergence of alcohol and trademark disputes seems to be a thing. Previously, we've seen how disputes over labels and area codes in beer brands have resulted in this sort of thing. More recently, we've also seen how these trademark disputes can result in new label artwork and brew names from sarcastic and creative breweries.
That last example was top of mind for me when I read about what seems to me to be a silly cease and desist letter sent to a small brewery in Washington State by Texas A&M over a brew they had made using the term "the twelfth man."
A family-owned brewery in Bothell, Wash. planned to sell "12th Man Skittles IPA" on Superbowl weekend but canceled the plans after receiving a cease-and-desist notice from A&M, which has trademarked the phrase. A&M lawyers actively police unlicensed uses of the trademark, which have increased with the Seahawks' run to the Super Bowl. Bothell is a town of about 34,000 located about 20 miles northeast of Seattle. The brewery is operated by Jim Jamison and his family, who have full-time jobs but run the business on the side from property in a residential area. It's only open on Saturdays from noon to 4 p.m.For those of you that aren't sports fans out there, the 12th man is a reference to the crowd in Seattle, who are so unbelievably loud as to both confuse the opposing team's offense and generate enough decibels to wind up on the Richter scale. What's strange in this case is that a brewery ostensibly isn't in the same business as a public university. So, while A&M indeed has a trademark and a long tradition on the concept of "the 12th man", it's unclear to this writer how these two entities are competing in commerce. Add to that the fact that it's quite unlikely that any morons in any stages of hurry would be confused enough to think that a tiny amount of beer in Washington had something to do with a college over two thousand miles away, and the common retorts offered by A&M don't seem to hold much water.
The 12th Man Skittles IPA was thought up somewhat last minute by Jamison as a way to celebrate the Seahawks' 12th man tradition and star running back Marshawn Lynch's affinity for the candy. He brewed 5.6 gallons of the beer, which isn't even a full batch, with home brew equipment.
Shane Hinckley, A&M's interim vice president for marketing and communications, said A&M has employees who actively watch for trademark violations but that he didn't remember how the small brewery got on the giant university's radar. He said A&M officials have been more actively watching for trademark infringements in the last few weeks.Fine, but those provisions in trademark law don't really apply if there isn't an element of brand confusion in the same arena of commerce. What might otherwise be the legitimate proactive protection of a trademark is instead just behaving dickishly. But, alas, Jamison didn't have the resources or the will to fight this nonsense, so he relented, calling his brew by another name. A wonderfully appropriate name.
"The reason we send out cease-and-desist letters is to, No. 1, show we are protecting our brand, which is important in the eyes of trademark law," Hinckley said. "And No. 2 is that infringing use has the potential to dilute our brand."
The beer will still be on tap Saturday, just under a different name -- "Cease & Desist IPA." Jamison said he received no other legal notices but dropped "Skittles" from the name just to be safe.I don't know if I've ever heard of a business model centered around gaining notoriety via cease and desist notices, but Jamison appears to be Streisanding his way to success.
"We're going to serve it in 12-ounce glasses, going with a '12th man' theme, but we won't call it the 12th man pour," Jamison said. Jamison is not upset about A&M's legal action and said that more than anything he is amused. He said A&M's lawyers were really nice and were satisfied with his actions to comply with their demands.
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Filed Under: 12th man, beer, likelihood of confusion, moron in a hurry, trademark
Companies: texas a&m
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Really?
KIm DotScam.
/end thread
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Really?
KIm DotScam.
/end thread
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Thant is not cricket.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Oh wait he's not American and can't be sued for something that is in every other part of the world a cricket reference so they can't stop him using it...
so sad
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Thant is not cricket.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
And here I thought their job was to educate people and give them a degree. How much of the revenue collected form their trademarks lowers the costs for students?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Lawyers are DICKHEADS
and brings their clients/masters into dis-repute and often brings negative publicity for the client and massive positive publicity for the small guy they try to steamroller.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Lawyers are DICKHEADS
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
See!
Without them this brewery would never have had to come up with something to indicate what they think of them.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Hey! - barkeep!
I ordered a beer, not a school. What kind a clip joint you runnin here?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: A&M Ftaternities
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: A&M Ftaternities
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
In other words...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Alcohol and Trademark Infringement
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
I don't follow baseball
If they were worried about protecting their trademark, they could have licensed it to the guy for a token dollar; if they're worried about dilution, they're just wrong.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: I don't follow baseball
The trademark applies to using the term to market merchandise associated with the Texas A&M football team in general whether it's T-shirts, coffee cups, or even beer.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Have to admit, "Cease and Desist IPA" is catchy!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
"incontestable status"
As far as general IP law goes I've got a better understanding of copyrights/patents than I do when it comes to the little details around trademark cases, so could someone explain to me how the hell someone could get an 'incontestable status' over the trademark in the first place?
As for how they're competing in commerce, I assume it's because Texas A&M has it's own college football team, and doesn't want to get their fans confused with... Seattle's 12th Man? Yeah, that's the only logical explanation I can come up with.
Of course, that also assumes IP law usually follows logic/common sense...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: "incontestable status"
Apparently the issue with the Seahawks has been settled with a license. However, the brewery isn't part of that license deal.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: "incontestable status"
That is understandable
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
all my life i've heard freshmen referred to as 'fish', but texas a&m has decided that word belongs to them. so, if you've always casually used that word in that meaning, be careful, or you'll be hearing from them.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Texas A&M is a military school.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]