Trademark Wars - Cub Vs Thunder Road

[Feldon]

FYI - ABC news item

"Brewer aims to resurrect historic beers
A small Melbourne brewery is aiming to revive some of Australia's earliest beers, but copyright holder CUB is not going to give up the recipes without a fight."

Dumb ABC journo - its not a copyright fight - its a trademark fight.

(at least the videography is good - includes Melb craft brewery, pub scenes, old beer labels etc)


http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-07-07/beer-wars/4116194

 

[Fish13]

good to know there is someone out there willing to resurrect these old beers. It could be a drama as said by the sabmiller spokesperson that with out the real recipe there just a name. I still a big issue could be the hops..

At least we will see more aussie ales and we will have a wide range of yeasts to reculture and try

 

[gap]

At least we will see more aussie ales and we will have a wide range of yeasts to reculture and try

Why do you think the brewery would be using new yeasts rather than ones already used
in the brewery now.

 

[Fish13]

Why do you think the brewery would be using new yeasts rather than ones already used
in the brewery now.

well in my mind to replicate the recipe they would need to use the same yeast...

 

[bum]

In your mind where do you think these yeast samples are coming from?

 

[bigfridge]

In your mind where do you think these yeast samples are coming from?

The CUB yeast bank would have it. The big breweries maintain a library of all their yeast strains plus this is back-ed in overseas archives such as National Collection of Yeast Cultures.

 

[Ash in Perth]

Interesting topic... I can see both sides.

It's great that they are trying to resurrect some old beer names. They will probably be nothing like the old beers but be much better (Highly carbonated, not ragingly infected, etc).

But, they are old CUB brands. It would be a bit like a new car company bringing out a 'Model T Ford' that looks and drives like a modern car...

What would be fun is if they actually made it as accurate as they can. Wooden kegs, short shelf lives from infections but unique. Would it sell?

 

[RobW]

http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum/inde...showtopic=65354

 

[Ash in Perth]

The CUB yeast bank would have it. The big breweries maintain a library of all their yeast strains plus this is back-ed in overseas archives such as National Collection of Yeast Cultures.

And you tihnk they'd give it to a Craft Brewer?

 

[bum]

And you tihnk they'd give it to a Craft Brewer?

Exactly my point.

 

[kenlock]

What would be great is that CUB brewed these beers and put them on tap on places they owned. Why not create CUB Taverns (with the pubs they already own) branded against James Squire Ale Houses, etc.

The new world is about choice, price and accessibility. If you can't accommodate these fundamentals then you are unlikely to succeed and/or survive.

My $0.02
icon_cheers.gif

 

[dabre4]

It sums up Thunder Road in a nut shell, I almost put them in the same bag as CUB. They're brewing beer to make a buck and care more about marketing then the beer itself. They're taking advantage of a booming market and the reason the market is booming is because of the breweries before them that had the guts to make something different and not follow the status quo. I say make your own name Thunder Road, and do it through good beer, not trying to steal other peoples property and claim it as your own.

 

[Innes]

good to know there is someone out there willing to resurrect these old beers. It could be a drama as said by the sabmiller spokesperson that with out the real recipe there just a name. I still a big issue could be the hops..

At least we will see more aussie ales and we will have a wide range of yeasts to reculture and try

They're not intending on remaking old recipes, they want to use to old trademarks to label their own beers.

For example, White Horse Ale is a long since retired beer which used to be produced by Tooth & Co in Sydney and the trademark is owned by CUB after they purchased Tooth's in the 80's. This beer hasn't been brewed for 50+ years. If a micro brewery won the right to sell a beer under the trademark White Horse Ale, besides bearing the same name and possibly the same label design, it would not be brewed to the same recipe Tooth's once used. Therefore whilst the brand would have been resurrected, the beer and recipe would not have.

The yeast used to brew this beer (along with a lot of other old beers) would no longer exist as CUB destroyed (yes destroyed) all of Tooth's yeasts in the 80's and started to use their own.

 

[Nick JD]

They're not intending on remaking old recipes, they want to use to old trademarks to label their own beers.

For example, White Horse Ale is a long since retired beer which used to be produced by Tooth & Co in Sydney and the trademark is owned by CUB after they purchased Tooth's in the 80's. This beer hasn't been brewed for 50+ years. If a micro brewery won the right to sell a beer under the trademark White Horse Ale, besides bearing the same name and possibly the same label design, it would not be brewed to the same recipe Tooth's once used. Therefore whilst the brand would have been resurrected, the beer and recipe would not have.

The yeast used to brew this beer (along with a lot of other old beers) would no longer exist as CUB destroyed (yes destroyed) all of Tooth's yeasts in the 80's and started to use their own.

How many people GAF about these old brands? If it was discontinued (probably because it was **** and didn't sell enough) 50 years ago, who's going to fondly say, "Ah, my favourite beer, White Ass is back on sale!" An 70 year old? Is there a big market for beer and geriatrics?

I had a Brisbane Bitter a few months ago. The REALLY should have let that brand die. Tasted like VB, but possibly slightly worse if anything.

I reckon these beers were archived for a reason. They didn't sell.

 

[Innes]

How many people GAF about these old brands? If it was discontinued (probably because it was **** and didn't sell enough) 50 years ago, who's going to fondly say, "Ah, my favourite beer, White Ass is back on sale!" An 70 year old? Is there a big market for beer and geriatrics?

I had a Brisbane Bitter a few months ago. The REALLY should have let that brand die. Tasted like VB, but possibly slightly worse if anything.

I reckon these beers were archived for a reason. They didn't sell.

I'm not defending or justifying what Thunder Road wants to do. I'm simply saying that Thunder Road are not going to brew these beers using the original recipes and yeasts etc that some people think they are going to do because they can't.

All they want to do is use the old trademarks currently owned by another brewery (CUB) to brand their own beers, instead of creating new brands of their own.

 

[DUANNE]

i say let the bland lager makers fight it out between themselves. if anything thunder road has got even more free advertising out of this stunt than even they would have expected, although on a personal level it has made me even less likely to buy one of their pissweak bland beers than i already was. it really is a stunt and nothing more. the moiney would be better spent creating an interesting beer that will get the market talking about them positivly.