more on the craft beer trademark "wars"
Trademark Wars: Turning Negatives into Positives Saranac and Prism Urge Brewers to Create Win-Win Relationships Utica, NY -It's become a reality in brewing: a brewery crafts a new beer recipe and then is confronted with the impossible task of selecting a unique name. All brewers entered the craft industry for the pursuit of good beer, but now an ever-increasing amount of time and resource are being tied up because of trademarks. When you have over 3,200 craft breweries vying for names, you can imagine the trouble in coming up with something distinctive. In some cases, breweries only discover that names have been taken when the beer is already on shelves or tap handles. In the worst of these cases, lawsuits ensue and no one benefits. However, with all the recent trademark excitement, we have found a refreshing reverse in direction and it goes by the name Prism. Saranac released Prism White Ale, a 2014 spring seasonal, without the knowledge that Philadelphia-...