BrewDog Beats Back Trademark Action From The Elvis Presley Estate

Trademark

from the the-juice-is-loose dept

Tue, Feb 6th 2018 7:27pm — Timothy Geigner

In the middle of summer last year, we discussed a somewhat strange trademark fight between BrewDog, a Scottish Brewery that has been featured in our pages for less than stellar reasons, and the Elvis Presley Estate. At issue was BrewDog's attempt to trademark the name of one of its beers, a grapefruit IPA called "Elvis Juice." With no other explanation beyond essentially claiming that any use of Elvis everywhere will only be associated in the public's mind as being affiliated by the 1950s rock legend, the Estate opposed the trademark application. Initially, the UK Intellectual Property Office sided with the Estate, despite the owners of BrewDog both pointing out that they were simply using a common first name and that they were actually taking the legal course of changing their first names to Elvis to prove their point. Not to mention that the trade dress for the beer has absolutely nothing to do with Elvis Presley. We wondered, and hoped, at the time if BrewDog would appeal the decision.

Well, it did, and it has won, which means Elvis Juice is free to exist and the order that BrewDog pay the Elvis Estate costs for its opposition be vacated.

Now, after a three-year battle the firm has overturned a ruling banning them from using the name and and order to pay Presley's estate £1,500 in costs has been scrapped. The ruling means BrewDog will no longer have to change the name or apply to the Elvis estate for official permission to use it.

It's the right end-state for all of this, but you have to wonder why it took an appeal process to get here. Again, you can see the trade dress for the beer in our original post and you will see that there is absolutely nothing in the way of a call-back to Elvis Presley. In other words, the opposition from the Estate rested solely on the claim that virtually any use of a common first name would be associated with the long-dead Elvis Presley. Arguably, Presley may not even by the first singer to leap to mind in the European market, where Elvis Costello is still, you know, alive. This whole thing smacked of pure audacity on the part of the Estate.

But let's remember that BrewDog has had to deal with this mess for the better part of a year. To those that would claim that trademark bullying isn't all that big a problem, tell that to the two Elvises (Elvisi?) that own BrewDog.

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Filed Under: elvis juice, elvis presley, trademark
Companies: brewdog, elvis presley estate

25 Comments

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orbitalinsertion (profile), 6 Feb 2018 @ 7:58pm

Eleves
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Toom1275 (profile), 6 Feb 2018 @ 9:10pm

The Presley Estate's spurious trademark claims were Elviscerated by the Appeals Court.
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Anonymous Coward, 6 Feb 2018 @ 10:13pm

Are there no non-alcohol-related trademark disputes, then?
Or is alcohol your preference, if not mania?
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Stephen T. Stone (profile), 6 Feb 2018 @ 10:28pm

Re:
Are you now, or have you ever been, the individual or the natural person known as Buzz Killington?
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That One Guy (profile), 6 Feb 2018 @ 11:16pm

Another tragic victim...
The magic code strikes again!
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PaulT (profile), 7 Feb 2018 @ 1:03am

Re: Are there no non-alcohol-related trademark disputes, then?
Yes, there are plenty. For example, just in the last couple of weeks:

https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20180129/14574739112/come-witness-commentators-that-help-nfl -fool-public-about-super-bowl-trademark-rights.shtml

https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20180125/11095 739086/atari-gets-settlement-it-was-surely-fishing-over-homage-to-breakout-kitkat-commercial.shtml

We ird how you don't remember those since some anonymous idiot was also in those threads trying and failing to attack the site.

Was your thinly veiled attack on alcohol use here because you were too blackout drunk to remember posting in them? That could explain a lot of your behaviour.
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Anonymous Coward, 7 Feb 2018 @ 1:47am

Re: Are there no non-alcohol-related trademark disputes, then?
out_of_the_blue just hates it when due process is enforced.
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That Other Guy (profile), 7 Feb 2018 @ 4:10am

I must admit, when I saw some bottles of that beer in a bar fridge, my first association was in fact Elvis Presley. That doesn't mean it should be banned.
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That Anonymous Coward (profile), 7 Feb 2018 @ 4:50am

We can now all blame BrewDog for the lack of new works from Elvis, stealing his fame for their juice thing made him stop... wait he died years ago & there is no way anything new is coming out & this is just lawyers trying to keep the estate very wealthy to pay them to file stupid lawsuits?
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The Wanderer (profile), 7 Feb 2018 @ 6:16am

Re:
Yeah. The fact is, the default association with the name "Elvis" in the minds of many people (I'd suspect the overwhelming majority) is in fact Elvis Presley; it hasn't been a common first name for a long time, AFAIK.

In fact, my first reaction when I first learned that Elvis Costello existed - years and years ago now - was to assume that he was a minor artist who'd changed his name to Elvis in order to get the public to associate him with Elvis Presley (even if only for purposes of contrast).

Even in this case, with the different trade dress and the fact that these people are apparently changing their names to Elvis to support the usage, the question of why "Elvis" is the name they chose remains - and while it's certainly possible that the reason they chose it was unrelated to Elvis Presley, the idea that it was related certainly doesn't look like an unjustifiable assumption to me.
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Dark Helmet (profile), 7 Feb 2018 @ 6:41am

Re: Are there no non-alcohol-related trademark disputes, then?
You should drink more. It's good for you.
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XcOM987 (profile), 7 Feb 2018 @ 6:58am

Re: Re:
That aside, I don't see why a name should be locked away for use just because someone famous had the same name, I could understand if they called it "Elvis Presley Juice" but alas, they did not.
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Pixelation, 7 Feb 2018 @ 7:32am

"Presley may not even by the first singer to leap to mind in the European market, where Elvis Costello is still, you know, alive"

Great, now the "other Elvis" is going to sue.
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Mason Wheeler (profile), 7 Feb 2018 @ 8:34am

the long-dead Elvis Presley

No, Elvis is not dead. He just went home.
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PaulT (profile), 7 Feb 2018 @ 8:48am

Re:
Almost. He was in a nursing home with JFK, but bravely sacrificed himself to fight of the ancient invader there.
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Anonymous Coward, 7 Feb 2018 @ 9:40am

Estates should be abolished or very short lived.
Once an artist or creator of any kind has died their works should 100% go to public domain even when that IP has been sold to a corporate entity. Estates should only live long enough to get through probate, legal challenges, and disburse all assets to heirs and associates. Once complete... it should be destroyed!
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That One Guy (profile), 7 Feb 2018 @ 11:22am

Re: Re:
I know where Mason's reference is from, was yours likewise from something, or just running with the idea and expanding on it?
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That Other Guy (profile), 7 Feb 2018 @ 12:47pm

Re: Re:
Even if they did have Elvis Presley in mind, I think that's perfectly OK. If it was, in some way, inspired by Elvis Presley, saying so should be allowed. Nobody is going to think the beer was created, or endorsed, by the King, nor does such a product exist with which this one might be confused.
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Toom1275 (profile), 7 Feb 2018 @ 12:51pm

Re:
Ylvis?
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orbitalinsertion (profile), 7 Feb 2018 @ 2:09pm

Re: Re:
Elvis needs boats.
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Mason Wheeler (profile), 7 Feb 2018 @ 3:48pm

Re: Re: Re:
Bubba Ho-Tep, if I'm not mistaken.
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The Wanderer (profile), 7 Feb 2018 @ 7:37pm

Re: Re: Re:
Agreed.
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PaulT (profile), 8 Feb 2018 @ 1:49am

Re: Re: Re: Re:
Yes, that's right! A little obscure, but I like to fun with it.
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Elvis Veils Lives Evils in Seville, 8 Feb 2018 @ 12:56pm

Step offa my BrewSuede Shoes
And I thought it was about HoundDog
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Anonymous Coward, 12 Feb 2018 @ 2:38am

Original name of Elvis Costello is Declan Patrick MacManus. He was probably inspired by Elvis Presley.
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