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Just received this from the international beer shop (Perth) newsletter .Big bun fights over who owns a word , watch out this may happen to you.Such terms as Homebrewer and Craftbrewer may be the next step. :lol: Any way for your viewing:
Your comments?
GB

Quote >CORPORATE BULLIES FIGHT OVER CUSTOMARY BEER TERMS

Some of you may recall our excitement when late last year we took on our first real Radler beer (of the Grapefruit variety) from Germany s Schofferhofer. Briefly, for those that missed it, Radler is the German word for Cyclist, and was used to describe the low alcohol drink (usually approx 2-2.5%) favoured by German cyclists who would stop at a pub or brewery for refreshment during a long ride. The Radler combines the incredibly refreshing and tart nature of German Weissbier with lemonade, as the cyclists would want to avoid inhibiting their motor skills to prevent them from toppling accidentally off the side of a mountain, and dates back to the 1920s.

In recent times, Australians and New Zealanders have been introduced to the term by Barefoot and Monteiths respectively, who brew full strength non-descript beers of which the predominant character is the lemon and lime with which they are flavoured.

In 2003, echoing the moves of an American firm who trademarked the word Ugg then successfully served Australian Ugg Boot manufacturers with cease and desist orders, kiwi brewing conglomerate DB, who own the Monteiths brand, trademarked the word radler. DB recently served an injunction upon Green Man, a small independent brewer of organic beers, in an effort to stop production (or at least sales) of Green Man Radler. Green Man chose to rename their beer Cyclist, but ironically, their beer was the more authentic mid-strength beer and lemonade mix known as a radler throughout Europe.

This wasnt the first time that Monteiths have dabbled in trademark law - late in 2007 they sought an injunction to stop Macs from launching Macs Sundance Summer Ale, claiming that Lion Nathan (owner of Macs) were trading off on the goodwill of Monteiths Summer Ale (a term that also has it s roots steeped in European tradition), and in the alternative that two Summer Ales would create too much confusion at bars, bottle shops, and during phone sales orders. The case was rejected.

Similarly, and coincidentally, Lion Nathan prevailed in court a few weeks ago when one of the worlds largest winemakers, E&J Gallo, attempted to appeal a decision allowing Lion Nathan to use the term Barefoot as part of Barefoot Radler in Australia, as, while a wine of the same name had been trademarked in Australia as early as 1999, it had not been significantly marketed until after the Radler beer was well established.

It s a jungle out there!
 
As a pom who had often in my youth ordered a pint of Shandy or a Lager and Lime this is frightening stuff :p There was a huge stir about twenty years ago when Powers brought out Powers Gold and Castlemaine Perkins hit the roof because of their XXXX Gold

You can still get Powers Gold, if you enjoy diluted cats piss.

powers_gold.jpggold.jpg
 
I think that this is despicable opportunism.
It's just not cricket.
 
:icon_offtopic: Just like the Yanks trying to steal the term Thongs from us...


Back OT - I would like to think we are all big enough to share a name such as Radler, etc...
 
It's not cricket, it's business. All about the $.
 
I am going to call my next beer.
Nike on Coke UYAH Bloody VB AHB Ale.

Really.

As a home brewer I think you are safe as long as you don't try to sell your beer.
So if the word Lager was patented, which may cost a trillion Euros, we have to start calling our beers "Larger" :p

The wine industry went through a similar thing when Australia started to win over market shares in the world.
You can still not call a Brandy Cognac because it wasn't made in the district of Cognac.

Fun read though but it is sad, sad world.

Civil liberty gone, freedom of speech on its way out "unless you ask for a permit" and you are a Terrorist if you ask USA to get out of Afghanistan.

Sorry.
But this was posted in the pub section wasn't it!?

End of rant....

MAtti
 
Let's face it, what prospect would a person with the genuine family name of McDonald have of setting up a fast food business in Australia? Woolworths here did a real sneaky by registering their name in Australia before FW Woolworth of the USA and UK did. They have both closed down (Woolies in the UK wasn't a food store, it was more like a Sams Warehouse or Crazy Clarks).

Who's laughing now :D :D :D

Edit: Burger King also got registered by an Aussie here and when BK tried to break into Australia they found that the name had been taken, and had to call themselves Hungry Jacks. Eventually they achieved their dream and got the name back here, opened a slew of Burger King Stores. Nobody was interested and they have all reverted to Hungry Jacks brand. Well the burgers are better. bwahahahah.
 
I just tipped out a batch of IPA due to an infection. Good thing it's my first one in the last year - or Monteiths might register 'Infected Indian Pale Ale' as their own... and they probably never been to Landsborough! :lol:
 
You have to wonder...given all this world economic doom...how can anyone afford to pay lawyers $$$ to argue such trite...
Next i'll be having to rename my homemade beers "home produced fermented liqour"
It did also remind me of cadbury trying to trademark the colour purple...idiots....
 
You can still not call a Brandy Cognac because it wasn't made in the district of Cognac.

You are not supposed to call a beer Klsch unless it is from Cologne. But I think that it is fair to protect regional naming of specific styles, the brewers from that small area all get to preserve (to whatever extent) and be custodians of the style and keep it from changing like IPA etc.

I think it is very un-sporting and thuggish to take the generic name of a category, and threaten the little guy with lawsuits they can not afford. It is low.
 
Sadly resurrecting this thread. From the International Beer Shop (again).
Shame on you too Monteiths/DB/Heineken!

We mentioned a few months ago that DB (a subsidiary of Asia Pacific Breweries, which is itself a subsidiary of Heineken), the owners of Monteiths, had trademarked the term "Radler" in New Zealand. This prohibits anyone from using the term to name or describe a beer, even authentic "radler" style beers (unlike Monteith's version, which seems to be a Corona that's had the lime pre-mixed).

And while their attempts to trademark "Summer" were fruitless, they succeeded in trademarking the French term used for the Wallonian specialty beer "Saison", as they were the first to use the term in mainstream NZ. Our friends at the Society of Beer Advocates NZ (SOBA) are asking for help to overturn the trademarks for Radler and Saison - please visit http://www.soba.org.nz/node/168 ASAP to find out how you can help ensure beers like Saison Dupont can be legally sold in NZ without changing their style and/or name.

Also, if you'd simply like to make your opinions known to DB (after all a listed company should respond to public opinion and sentiment) you can contact their Communications Manager Jo Jalfon at [email protected]. If you need further motivation, DB's history is littered with immoral business practices, including recently seeking permission to continue dumping nutrient rich wastewater into the Mangatainoka River (behind their Tui brewery) for a further 21 years.

We only hope that they don't try to trademark the term "Doppelbock" or even "Winter" - particularly when their "Winter Doppelbock" isn't even a Doppelbock (it's an ale)!

Who cares if they trademark radler - but saison! Burn thier brewerys :angry: !!!! (start with the lawyers first)
 
This is hilarious!

Where's the common sense gone...

Surely someone needs a bit of a tap on the head. What retarded cock end (in a white wig) made such a mis-informed judgement? FFS.

'struth.

I'm going to make me a Saison Radler ('cept I don't like lagers...)
 

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