Boycott Magic Hat Brewing Company...

[TheDarkSide]

I think everyone is missing a MAJOR point here. Magic hat makes shit beer. So fuck em!!!! Their packaging is their whole gimmic.

Yeah but I hear the #9 gets a +10 with girls because it is a fruit beer.

[BrewBum]

Magic Hat doesn't own #9 to protect it in the first place. It's a Beatles song. This is just fucked up whining.

"Hey man, like somebody stole the stuff I stole..."

explain how a beatles song compares to a beer or competes in the same space? Apples and Oranges man.

It's not apples and oranges, it's where Magic Hat stole the name of that beer. Period.

That may be but and a big but here, The Beatles song bares no resemblance or competition in the space of beer and having a big fat number 9 on a beer label sitting next to another beer with a 9 on the label could easily add confusion to the buyer of said beer. A beer with a 9 on it sitting next to a CD from the Beatles would not create the same confusion, unless you are a moron, hence apples and oranges.

I won the Special Olympics 100m dash by my tongue.

[JP]

Exactly. And really, this "we can't afford the big lawyers" excuse is nuts. You don't need a lawyer, you can go in and make your case on your own. Sure a lawyer helps, but to just roll over like that ... real lame.

[thatguy314]

It is apples and oranges. You're not going to confuse a beer with a record. You're going to confuse 1 beer with another beer.

Honestly, I think there is a problem with the 9lbs porter. Not because of the name, but because I can legitimately see how a giant #9 on the label may be confused with a beer called #9. It's not about the #9 per se, but about the idea that a consumer might confuse 2 beers with a large #9 directly in the center of the label.

The original: is magic hat
The new one: is the 9lb porter

Clearly there are a lot of similar things going on on the label.

They should just change the label so it's not so glaringly similar. maybe spell out nine. maybe put it off to the side. maybe make it more similarly sized with the other text.

So this is entirely different than the monster situation. This is a company defending their original trademark and brand recognition, one beer preventing another beer from labeing their package with a very similar logo. Whether or not they're larger and more successful is irrelevant. Their label design existed first, and they have a right to protect it.

Trademark law is as old as the beer industry. Anyone know what the first registered trademark in recorded history is?


Yup! It's that red triangle. Although another brewery, Lowenbrau, claims it has trademarked its lion even longer. Beer invented trademark / trademark infringement.

[JP]

I think when friends get together to drink, they suggest beers by name, not by name AND brewery. I know when I suggest certain beers I make sure they at least get the name of the beer I want them to try, the brewery doesnt matter too much at that point. So if your buddy said "hey, go try that number 9 beer, i forget who makes it", and you went to the store and saw those two beers together, would you be confused? I would. Or if you go to a bar and ask for a 9, what would you get?

[mr x]

explain how a beatles song compares to a beer or competes in the same space? Apples and Oranges man.

It's not apples and oranges, it's where Magic Hat stole the name of that beer. Period.

That may be but and a big but here, The Beatles song bares no resemblance or competition in the space of beer and having a big fat number 9 on a beer label sitting next to another beer with a 9 on the label could easily add confusion to the buyer of said beer. A beer with a 9 on it sitting next to a CD from the Beatles would not create the same confusion, unless you are a moron, hence apples and oranges.

I won the Special Olympics 100m dash by my tongue.

That's not the point. Magic Hat is using the Beatles song as marketing for their beer. That isn't debatable (unless you are a moron). What grounds do they have to say to another company that they can't steal the stuff they stole? There is no apples and oranges.

[mr x]

Sure a lawyer helps...

Just a little. This isn't a traffic ticket...

[Joos]

if you go to a bar and ask for a 9, what would you get?

A number nine, not a nine pound hammer <------that was a nutter teabag