Bear Republic and Central City Brewing square off over Red Racer
(Cloverdale, CA) – More trademark battles . . . in this middleweight bout, Bear Republic Brewing takes on Central City Brewing over “Red Racer.”
The Boston IP blog posted the details about the Bear Republic lawsuit over the weekend. California-based Bear Republic is suing British Columbia-based Central City over alleged trademark infringement on its “RACER 5 INDIA PALE ALE and BEAR REPUBLIC RICARDO’S RED ROCKET ALE” marks. Bear Republic takes issue with Central City’s Red Racer product line which hit cans and U.S. distribution for the first time last year. The brewery sent a cease and desist in mid-December to which Central City responded in early January, rejecting Bear Republic’s claims.
In the lawsuit, which is available in full here (pdf), Bear Republic says that at this year’s GABF, a representative was approached by two different people asking about its Red Racer beer in cans. Bear Republic also points to an article penned by Massachusetts-based beer columnist, Norman Miller, in which he repeatedly confuses the Red Racer and Red Rocket names. The article, for which Google’s cached result is still available, has since been removed. The lawsuit was filed in late January with a Massachusetts court, a state where Central City and Bear Republic products are both available.
The lawsuit also notes that it was an (unnamed) Ohio brewery owner that phoned Bear Republic, mentioning the similarities between the two breweries’ marks as well as “the similarities of words, fonts and colors” used between them, that first made the brewery aware of Central City Red Racer products.
The suit seeks, among other things, “an award of damages in the amount of Defendant’s profits.” This is where I need a legal team to look at this. Does that mean just the profits from the allegedly infringing products or all of the company’s profits?
Bear Republic has always and will continue to make award-winning beer. What this does though is shine a spotlight on Central City Brewing, a brewery I had admittedly never heard of before this incident. Central City Red Racer IPA has earned awards and critical praise from the beer rating community, and actually has a chance to make it into the top 10 American IPAs on Beer Advocate.
Central City beers are imported through Klassen Wines; they appear to be available in Maine and California (and others?) in addition to Massachusetts according to Beer Advocate’s Beer Spy feature. Infringing items are to be seized if Bear Republic wins the lawsuit so if you want to try these beers, you may want to snatch them up quickly.
[Hat tip to Sycodrummer on BA for bringing this to our attention.]
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February 9th, 2010 at 8:06 am
Let me say first off I’m a big fan of Beer Republic, but this is bull. Now with so many craft breweries, there will be overlap in names. Red is (or at least should be) too generic to claim a trademark on.
We at The Grey Lodge Pub didn’t sue or bitch when a place called the Grey Lounge opened up here in Philly.
February 9th, 2010 at 11:58 am
@Scoats: You should have bitched, since that obviously could create confusion. “Where you at?” “I’m at the Grey Lodge! Where you at?” “Liar, I’m at the Grey Lodge!” etc
Shame on “Massachusetts-based beer columnist, Norman Miller” for writing under the influence. If he can’t keep his names/brands straight, he has no business sowing hate and discontent due to his blindness and/or insobriety.
And shame on Bear Republic for reaching way too far in trying to compare the brands in question. Let’s see, Red Rocket has a rocket, Racer 5 just aas text…, and Red Racer has a leggy chick on a bicyle, and a big Canadian maple leaf too. Yep: I sure see now all of the confusion there (not!).
February 9th, 2010 at 2:04 pm
Seriously lame! I’m embarrassed of this lawsuit!
February 9th, 2010 at 2:33 pm
You would think BR would be too busy making beer!
February 9th, 2010 at 6:17 pm
[...] BC – beernews.org reports that Bear Republic Brewery of Healdsburg, California has filed a lawsuit against Central City [...]
February 10th, 2010 at 3:57 pm
Looks like I had my last Bear Republic Beer. This is what happens when we allow some corporate office wanker a bit of power. Free press for Central City. I hope their sales skyrocket! Maybe I’ll be sued next for using the word rocket in conjunction with sky!
February 10th, 2010 at 6:45 pm
This is a tough one, and it will interesting to see how it pans out. If the trademark was researched prior to Central Putting it out, than the job wasn’t done too well. Red Racer will have more of an issue with Red Rocket, as they’re strongly similar to one another. Racer 5 and Red Racer are not. They would have the same issue if they called it Red Runner. Runner, Rocket, Racer etc.
The names aren’t identical or nearly identical for that matter, but they’re strong in terms of closeness. So this is no Monster, Vermonster, it’s an entirely different beast altogether. All things considered I like both breweries so I hope it works itself out.
February 10th, 2010 at 8:30 pm
[...] BRITISH COLUMBIA) – Central City Brewing Brewmaster, Gary Lohin, chimed in on the Bear Republic lawsuit over at Beer Advocate within the last [...]
February 14th, 2010 at 6:33 pm
[...] delicious, but they are one of BC’s cheapest beer options. Both Canadian Beer News and BeerNews.org have more coverage of the [...]
February 8th, 2010 at 9:52 pm
Bear Republic and Central City Brewing to square off over Red Racer in court http://bit.ly/aqI5oK #craftbeer
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
February 8th, 2010 at 10:09 pm
Bear Republic and Central City Brewing square off over Red Racer http://bit.ly/bHUYzx
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
February 8th, 2010 at 10:40 pm
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
February 8th, 2010 at 10:40 pm
Bear Republic and Central City Brewing square off over Red Racer http://ff.im/-fCSLq
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
February 8th, 2010 at 10:48 pm
Craft-Beerwars??? Why the need for craft breweries to sue one another?Red is a colour, not intellectual property. http://bit.ly/aqI5oK
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
February 8th, 2010 at 11:27 pm
beernews.org: Bear Republic and Central City Brewing square off over Red Racer: (Cloverdale, CA) – More trademark … http://bit.ly/bHUYzx
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
February 8th, 2010 at 11:36 pm
? RT @beerpulse Bear Republic and Central City Brewing to square off over Red Racer in court http://bit.ly/aqI5oK #craftbeer
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
February 8th, 2010 at 11:41 pm
Bull. Shit. The worst part is that I *like* Bear Republic. But I like local guys Central City far more in this one. http://is.gd/7YYef
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
February 8th, 2010 at 11:52 pm
Bear Republic and Central City Brewing square off over Red Racer … http://bit.ly/bSWUQJ
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
February 9th, 2010 at 7:49 am
#craftbeer lawsuit? this one might have some legs: http://tinyurl.com/yzk4d8p http://bit.ly/ab8FEX
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
February 9th, 2010 at 9:26 am
This is almost as dumb as when monster(energy) tried to sue a beer company.
This comment was originally posted on Reddit
February 9th, 2010 at 4:33 pm
I don’t get it. [Red rocket](http://www.bearrepublic.com/images/ourbeerimages/Red-Rocket-six-pack_small.JPG) [Red Racer](http://www.bearrepublic.com/images/ourbeerimages/Racer-six-pack_small.JPG) I’m a typesetter and those are clearly different fonts and package designs.
This comment was originally posted on Reddit
February 9th, 2010 at 4:48 pm
Though not similar, there are some elements to trademark infringements in the names that could cause confusion. Red Rocket – Scottish Red Ale 6.8% (DARK BOTTLE) Picture – RocketShip Red Racer – IPA 6.5% (Green Can) – Girl on Bike
This comment was originally posted on Reddit
February 9th, 2010 at 4:58 pm
Those are the designs for Bear Republic’s Red Rocket and Racer 5. Red Racer seems to have a combination of a similar font as Racer 5 with similar positioning to Red Rocket (see lawsuit, page 10 for comparison). Add in the similar names and I think it’s easy to see how people confuse the beers.
This comment was originally posted on Reddit
February 9th, 2010 at 6:37 pm
I understand that but "red" is a color and can’t be trademarked. Plus Red is used in a lot of beers. The "a’s" are very different and the fonts, if similar, are not the same fonts. I’m sure that one company paid a graphic designer to design their font. If not they must have purchased it off a website, bad idea, anyone can purchase them. I’m sure they developed their own fonts.
This comment was originally posted on Reddit
February 9th, 2010 at 7:03 pm
Another beer copyright feud. This time its brewery vs brewery. Not sure whose side I’m on. http://bit.ly/cyvCbL
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
February 10th, 2010 at 2:46 pm
….Rasta Racer
This comment was originally posted on Reddit
February 10th, 2010 at 9:34 pm
For those who missed it here is the original story on the Central City + Bear Republic Law Suit: http://bit.ly/ctJNdb
This comment was originally posted on Twitter