(Petaluma, CA) – Lagunitas Brewing owner, Tony Magee, has tweeted some good stuff as of late, much of which we will get to, time-permitting, on Tuesday.
The latest tweets bring us back once again to “crowded spaces” as Magee calls them, less affectionately known around these parts as trademark disputes. Magee says that Lagunitas has received a letter from an Atlanta brewery demanding that he “never ever use the term 420 again.” Though he never identifies “SweetWater,” the brewery’s identity is easily deduced from the tweets, not to mention its legal ownership of the phrase in the eyes of the USPTO when it comes to beer.
Merit-wise, it would be a strange request because Lagunitas doesn’t actually have a ‘420’ brand. The company does lightly use it in marketing materials, mainly around the actual 4/20 date when it releases a beer called Waldo’s Special Ale. Magee’s affinity for the ‘4/20’ lifestyle is also well-documented.
A spokesman for SweetWater said he was unaware of the matter as of Monday night and had no comment.
In the world of crowded spaces, a brewery out of Atlanta sent me a letter today demanding that we never ever use the term 420 again…
— LagunitasT (@lagunitasT) July 8, 2013
Seems they got a federal trademark on it a while back. Mebbe they did. Hysterical it is that the same Fed that prosecutes also sanctions…
— LagunitasT (@lagunitasT) July 8, 2013
More bizarre that the bunnies at TTB that prevent Kronik beer names permit 430 names. Maybe Freddy trademarked the word 'pot' too…
— LagunitasT (@lagunitasT) July 8, 2013
He nevr bothered t call me though, that'a taken soul. But then anyone that'd trademark 420 must b bereft. S'posed t be counterculture,
— LagunitasT (@lagunitasT) July 9, 2013
It's cool. Rules r rules. I do wonder if Freddy even knows the names o the grown-up boys that coined the term…we do. Good guys, they are.
— LagunitasT (@lagunitasT) July 9, 2013
I've hadda ask other brewers to stop using stuff we felt was our own, I understand how it feels. But I always called 1st. No problem here.
— LagunitasT (@lagunitasT) July 9, 2013
For da record, I'd never called a beer 420 anything- just stuck it here & there, sometimes hid it. No problem, I think we outgrew it anyway.
— LagunitasT (@lagunitasT) July 9, 2013
It ain't what we are anyway, but it is what I do! Hope you do too… Long live the Waldo's!
— LagunitasT (@lagunitasT) July 9, 2013
I'm also not goin all West6th here either. Drink what thrills ya….!
— LagunitasT (@lagunitasT) July 9, 2013
I love Magee’s twitter feed, so entertaining
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