(Washington D.C.) – The Rock Art / Monster Energy battle over Rock Art’s Vermonster was one of the top craft beer stories of 2009 and you guys even voted it #1 story of the year. As it would turn out, it’s not quite over yet.

[note: apologies for the video above which is cut off at the end (as is the original)]

The two sides reached an agreement last year in which Rock Art Brewery would get to keep the Vermonster name. It was a PR black eye for Monster Energy Drink and Rock Art received a ton of support, including from Vermont Senator Patrick Leahy.

Leahy is now pursuing trademark reform for which the Rock Art case is the catalyst. He introduced a bill this week that, among other things, will look into whether large companies are using trademark litigation inappropriately. The Senate unanimously passed the bill on Thursday night and it will now go to the House of Representatives.

Leahy said in a statement, “This legislation also requires a study of how the current system can better protect small businesses from abuses of the trademark system by larger corporations. Congress provides strong enforcement tools to intellectual property owners, as we should, to deter infringing activity and to remove counterfeit products from the market. I have become concerned, however, that large corporations are at times abusing the substantial rights Congress has granted them in their intellectual property to the detriment of small businesses. In fact, we saw a high-profile case like this in Vermont last year involving a spurious claim against Rock Art Brewery in Morrisville. When a corporation exaggerates the scope of its rights far beyond a reasonable interpretation in an attempt to bully a small business out of the market, that is wrong. This legislation therefore directs the Secretary of Commerce, in coordination with the Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator, to consider options for protecting small businesses from such harassing litigation, while ensuring that legitimate trademark infringement actions are handled efficiently and expeditiously by the courts.”