(San Antonio, TX) – Freetail Brewing‘s CEO and Founder, Scott Metzger took to his blog today to reflect on the fun-filled response he wrote to Steelhead Brewing after the company sent him a cease and desist letter. Yup, this one…
https://twitter.com/#!/beerpulse/status/157164666135642113
Here is a snippet from Metzger’s post:
4) [Soapbox Alert] I think a lot of our country’s problems could be solved if people (especially elected officials) would sit down over a beer and interact more with one another instead of immediately resorting to legal options. In an ideal world, disputes like this should be handled as follows:
Brewery A: “Hey, you have a beer the same name as our trademarked beer. Can you stop”
Brewery B: “Sure, sorry about that.”
Brewery A: “Cool, can we get this in writing just so we have a paper trail”
Brewery B: “Sure amigo, let’s meet up at the next GABF or CBC and share a beer”
There are (at least) a few lessons to be learned here (in general, for all breweries/businesses/people):
1. Do a search on Google, RateBeer, Beer Advocate, the Trademark registration database, etc. before picking a beer name.
2. Be a human being first and a law-protecting robot second when you see someone using the same beer name as yours.
3. Though Metzger probably didn’t have to write this post, he did the right thing because the response didn’t exactly make the other company look all that great. Steelhead may have made a mistake but they are still craft brewing brethren.
We hope to raise a pint of Hoposaurus Rex someday and laugh with them about this whole thing.
Read Metzger’s full post.
So, when Sam Calagione expects decency from beer-drinkers, he is accused of romanticizing and playing the stereotype of “beer community”, small guy against the big, evil corporation thing, etc.. Apparently he does this is a cold calculation to seem like one of the small guys, and apparently based on his popularity rather than his sales, he is suddenly not deserving of that label anymore, according to some.
However, when a company follows what is sound legal-advice and sends a cease and desist, something every business with any form of intellectual property from freelance photographers to record companies do on a weekly basis, they are being assholes because they couldn’t play to the stereotype of the friendly brewmaster and hack it out over a beer.
Just because they are brewers doesn’t mean that they need to do a beer-summit in place of what is proper, accepted business practice. Could they also have sent a personal letter explaining the situation along with the CAD, sure… should people mock them for not doing it, off course not.
If you ask me, it is time to stop expecting special treatment between breweries, but also to applaud those who seem to genuinely care about being nice to fellow brewers and drinkers.
Stop hatin’…
Hi Kim,
Thanks for the comment. Well thought out. This post has been running in my head for a while. Where business intersects with society and why it’s no longer acceptable for businesses to act like…businesses. I will expand on this idea in a future post (likely in the next couple weeks).
Cheers!
Adam
Wow, I wonder if titletown brewing got the same letter? They seem to have a “Hopasaurus Rex” beer too!
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