Fashion law Blog report.
Early this year, the après ski activities at some of the ritzy ski resorts that line the sweeping Rocky Mountain subranges of Colorado were joined by the launch of a buzzy new beer. Pop-up shops, complete with reclaimed wood booths and staffed by beer-slinging bar-hands and servers clad in Patagonia-logoed down coats, rounded out the regular restaurants and bars in the mountain-base villages populated by end-of-the-day skiers, ski boots still on, helmets in hand. The beer of choice at these season-specific pop-ups? A new offering from recently-launched brewer Patagonia Brewing Co.
The pop-up shops’ staff might have been wearing Patagonia-branded wares and offering consumers the chance to have a tree planted for each mountain peak-logoed Patagonia Cerveza beer they bought, something that sounds a whole lot like an initiative that would fall neatly under the umbrella of well-known clothing brand, Patagonia. However, it turns out that despite the same name and similar environmental endeavor ethos shared by the two companies, there is no connection between the Anheuser-Busch-owned beer co. and the world-famous outdoors-outfitter.
But how famous is famous exactly? That is the question at the center of the lawsuit that Patagonia filed against Anheuser-Busch this spring. The 46-year old high performance-wear brand – which has found favor amongst extreme outdoorsy types, fashion industry figures, and no shortage of consumers in between – filed suit against Anheuser-Busch, alleging that the multi-national drink and brewing company (and owner of the likes of Budweiser, Michelob, Stella Artois, and Landshark, among others) hijacked its trademark-protected brand name for a new beer offshoot called Patagonia Brewing Co.
Read the full article: https://www.thefashionlaw.com/home/patagonia-jackets-and-patagonia-beer-a-legal-fight-over-a-famous-trademark