"Here's to alcohol: the cause of, and answer to, all of
life's problems." Matt Groening
The former is certainly true for Lagunitas Brewing Company.
Lagunitas is dealing with a PR headache worse than the worst
hangover after it sued Sierra Nevada Brewing Company for
infringement of various "IPA" trademarks owned by
Lagunitas. For you teetotalers out there, IPA stands for India Pale
Ale, a fairly popular genre of beer. In a Complaint filed on
Monday, Lagunitas asserted that the label for Sierra Nevada's
new Hop Hunter IPA infringes Lagunitas' trademarks. The
competing marks are as follows:
Although it can take years to reach a resolution in a court of
law, it took less than 24 hours for the court of public opinion to
reach a nearly unanimous decision on this trademark dispute. I am
inclined to agree that there is no likelihood of confusion between
these marks. Beer lovers across the country united on the issue,
taking to Twitter and craft beer
