DailyDirt: Beverage Marketing At Its Highest... Altitudes?

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

Putting all sorts of things into space to see how they'll react in a micro-gravity environment has been done for decades now. Sometimes, it's really unpredictable what exactly will happen to stuff -- eg. will seeds exposed to space grow differently? But some things are not really too consequential. Do whisky drinkers really care if their favorite beverages are aged in space? Are astronauts allowed to get drunk on the International Space Station?

• Ardbeg Scottish whisky aged in space for 3 years has been tasted (finally!) by human beings, and it looks like space-aged whisky is somewhat nasty. Lots of fancy adjectives were used to qualitatively describe this whisky that we mentioned 3 years ago, but the aftertaste was "intense and long, with hints of wood, antiseptic lozenges and rubbery smoke" -- and "rubbery smoke" doesn't sound too appealing. [url]
• American whiskeys and bourbons have a history of tricky marketing tactics. Aging these alcoholic beverages or producing them in smaller quantities doesn't necessarily make them any better, and the name on the labels might not actually mean much beyond a "doing business as" moniker. [url]
• The Japanese distillery Suntory will be sending its own whisky to the International Space Station to "observe" the effects of aging its product in space. This probably isn't about the scientific exploration of whisky chemistry as much as it is marketing, but maybe someday, we'll see more ads with Bill Murray shot in space with more intensity. [url]

After you've finished checking out those links, take a look at our Daily Deals for cool gadgets and other awesome stuff.

Filed Under: advertising, bill murray, bourbon, international space station, iss, marketing, microgravity, space, taste, whiskey, whisky
Companies: ardbeg, suntory

The Hot Duke University Vs. John Wayne Estate Action Has Been Tossed Out By The Court

from the made-my-day dept

A few months back, we wrote about the ridiculous story in which Duke University, ostensibly a higher-learning establishment, sued the John Wayne Estate, claiming that its "Duke Bourbon" product might somehow confuse brown-liquor drinkers into thinking that the school produced the product. This, despite the logo for Duke Bourbon including an image of John Wayne and nobody ever defaulting to thinking that a university was going to start making and marketing its own liquor.

And now, with the John Wayne Estate suing for a declaratory judgment, the California court in which the claim was brought has essentially punted on the issue by using a procedural evaluation over jurisdiction.

The judge applied what's known as the “effects test," which measures whether a defendant acted in a way that was wrongful and expressly aimed at affecting California and whether harm was likely to be suffered in the state. Here, Judge Carter says that Duke was aware of John Wayne Enterprises's presence in the state, but that there was no showing how Duke purposefully directed its conduct at California by filing an opposition to trademarks in Virginia. The judge added that other than one Nebraska case, "there is no basis for JWE’s contention that a defendant’s actions to protect its intellectual property rights in an administrative proceeding constitute the type of harm contemplated under the 'effects test.'"

The decision may technically make sense, but damn if it wouldn't be nice for the judge to instead have spent a half an hour laughing directly in the face of Duke University's lawyers before lighting all of their paperwork on fire instead. The entire attempt to block the trademark of a bourbon by the university borders on insane. That this crap will have to go back into a different court before eventually being tossed out is too bad.

Filed Under: bourbon, duke, john wayne, trademark
Companies: duke university, john wayne estate

Duke And The Duke Duke It Out Over Duke Bourbon

from the dookie dept

It never stops: somehow the concept of trademark disputes and alcohol are intrinsically intertwined or something. I've always been surprised at how many trademark disputes involving beer or liquor I seem to come across, from small breweries battling egotistical families, to small breweries battling big breweries, and to small breweries battling Texas A&M (seriously...). But this one is a new one, even for me.

See apparently Duke University and the heirs of John Wayne, a.k.a. The Duke, have had something of a long Hatfields vs. Mccoys type of feud. Both entities have separate trademarks on "Duke" that mostly results in each going after the other every time either tries to expand into a different market while using the moniker. This latest go 'round is over bourbon, which I love, and Duke University is claiming that a John Wayne themed bourbon might be mistaken as a university-branded bourbon.

A federal lawsuit filed last week is the latest salvo in a long-running legal duel between the North Carolina university and California-based John Wayne Enterprises over commercial products featuring the name. The late actor used the moniker since childhood, when he adopted the name of the family dog. Lawyers for the university say allowing the Wayne estate to use the name could cause confusion and "diminish, dilute and tarnish" the value of the name, for which both parties hold trademarks.

And you can see Duke University's point. After all, their logo...

...is strikingly similar to the proposed logo for Duke Bourbon...

I can just sense all of you scratching your heads in concentration as you try to determine whether or not those two brands are related. Here's a crazy thought: maybe the fact that the bourbon label doesn't include the word "university", has a completely different color scheme, shows the damned picture and signature of one of the most famous movie stars in the history of cinema, and even has the state of Kentucky make a cameo, while Duke University is in North Carolina, all means that the likelihood of confusion is essentially null, void, and damn it why do we have to have this stupid conversation?

The most likely scenario is one where these two entities are so used to just going legal every time one of them does anything with the word "Duke" that they can't help themselves any longer. They're just feuding to feud at this point, which would be fine except that isn't the purpose of trademark law and it sets a crappy example for everyone else to follow. You'd think an institution like Duke University would be better than that.

Filed Under: bourbon, duke, john wayne, trademark
Companies: duke

Judge Rules: Drunk Moron In A Hurry Wouldn't Know Tequila From Maker's Mark

from the wax-on,-wax-off dept

After seven years in the courts, a federal judge has ruled that a dripping red wax seal can only be used by Maker's Mark bourbon. While no monetary damages were awarded, the judge issued an injunction to prevent Diageo and Casa Cuervo from using a dripping wax seal on their tequilas, specifically, their high-end tequila, Cuervo Reserva. Maker's Mark has held the trademark (pdf) on the dripping wax since the 50s; Cuervo Reservo launched with their dripping wax design in 2001, after using a non-dripping wax seal in previous years. Call me a moron in a hurry, but these tequila bottles really don't remind me of Maker's Mark one bit.

That said, the injunction won't really affect Cuervo that much right now, since they stopped the dripping wax design after 2007 in favor of a cleaner wax seal, but that might not even matter -- Maker's Mark filed a second suit in 2009, alleging that even a non-dripping bottle still infringes upon their trademark. That suit seems even more ridiculous, since wax seals are commonly used to seal not just liquors, but also anything from wine to vinegar to honey.

Filed Under: bourbon, jose cuervo, maker's mark, tequila, trademark
Companies: diageo