4 years after submitting a lawsuit, Stone Brewing’s case in opposition to Molson Coors (previously MillerCoors) is lastly headed to court docket, in response to the Mercury Information.
Again in 2018, the San Diego craft brewery introduced it was suing Keystone’s guardian firm over trademark infringement. The lawsuit got here after a 2017 rebranding of Keystone Gentle, involving a bundle design that emphasizes “Stone” and references to the beers as solely “Stones” in advertising and marketing campaigns (akin to this “Go away no Stone unturned” billboard).
Stone Brewing claims it has suffered monetary harm attributable to buyer confusion because of Keystone Gentle’s rebranding. And it is an try, Stone Brewing says within the swimsuit, “to seize the Stone mark and related goodwill … (and) to mislead shoppers: in regards to the supply of MillerCoors’s ‘Keystone,’ the heritage of Stone’s beers, and whether or not Stone is simply one other member of MillerCoors’s craft brew holding firm.”
Stone Brewing is an unbiased craft brewery whereas Molson Coors is the fifth greatest beer firm on the planet.
Molson Coors, alternatively, has argued that complicated the 2 manufacturers is unimaginable, contemplating their very completely different packaging design, costs and the truth that the label nonetheless spells out the total “Keystone Gentle” title.
The trial was initially scheduled for November 2020, however was delayed a number of instances, in response to the San Diego Union-Tribune.
A U.S. District decide in San Diego beforehand known as it “one of the vital contentious instances I’ve ever skilled, and I’ve had trademark/commerce title instances earlier than,” reported the Union-Tribune.
The jury trial kicked off on Monday and is anticipated to final three weeks.