It's time to stand up and help out a Vermont company! Rock Art Brewery, based in Morrisville, VT, was served a "cease and desist" order from Monster Energy, a brand owned by Hansen Natural Corporation, on Sept. 14th. The order stated that Rock Art's "The Vermonster" brand is in violation of Hansen's trademarks. The document emailed to Matt Nadeau, owner and brewer, says the "...use and registration of the Vermonster in connection with beer will undoubtably create a likelihood of confusion and/or dilute the distinctive quality of Hansen's Monster marks."
This suit is the result of Rock Art filing for a national trademark for the term "Vermonster." The term was trademarked in Vermont in 2006, but with Rock Art's growing national distribution, they were looking to protect their beer brand. Monster's lawyers claim that they filed suit to protect their current national trademarks, their brand image, and to protect consumers from being confused by the labeling. Now, I'm not an art critic, but I am a consumer, and I find very few, IF ANY, similarities between the black can marked with a vibrant green "M" and the brown bottle depicting Kokopelli.
Lawyers consulted have said that Rock Art will most likely win if the suit goes forward, but at the risk of sinking thousands of dollars into legal fees. Their choice is either to lay down and let the Giant Corporation take away their right to call their beer "Vermonster," a term of pride for locals, or fight tooth and nail in court, possibly loosing their shirts and brewery in the process.
We'll be doing our part to send a message to Hansen. Tonight we stripped our store of all Monster related products and advertising, clearing out their dedicated cooler door and removing signage and displays. We will side with our neighbors and help them in their struggle in any way possible.
We'll be welcoming Rock Art to Winooski in early November for a free tasting and to rally the troops against this monster of a beverage corporation. (I hope I don't get sued for using the term monster so many times!)
Cheers,
Jeff
For more:
Seven Days
Stowe Reporter
BeerAdvocate.com
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3 comments:
I had heard about this from a friend, then read about it in seven days. Glad to see you taking a stand as well for our local champs. Also, big kudos to all the ongoing changes making the bevy THE place to go for beer purchases.
Kudos to the Bevvie for sticking up for a local. I have been a consumer of both the Green M and the Rock Art products and will follow your lead and refrain from supporting the plaintiff in this matter (...and I like Rock Art better anyway!)
I knew there was a reason I loved to shop at the Bevy. Thank you for standing up for a local company. I am spreading the word!
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