Craft Brewery Naming Challenges

craft brewing challenges

Brooks Pierce – Brooks Pierce partner David Sar was recently quoted in an article by Triad Business Journal reporter Owen Covington on trademark challenges North Carolina craft breweries are facing.  The article discusses the difficulties upstart breweries are having in finding names for both their brand and individual beers that are not already trademarked by other businesses.

“What’s a little bit different is it’s a really hot area right now, and there are a lot of new entrants into the marketplace,” said David Sar, an intellecutal property attorney with Brooks Pierce who has worked on numerous trademark cases for breweries.  “You have a situation where you have the older, existing brand – primarily a few large companies – and you have a gold rush of other companies that are coming up with really creative, interesting names.”

The Article: 

Craft brewing has traditionally been marked by a spirit of collaboration and kinship among brewers, but the growing industry is now encountering more internal trademark and branding disputes.

See the link to the article here

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