Note: Much of this post was written in March, 2011 but because I couldn’t get any comments on the record at that time, I didn’t publish it.

(Kinston, NC) – The North County Times reported on Sunday:

[Mother Earth Brew Co.] says it has won a trademark ruling against similarly named Mother Earth Brewing Co. LLC, a North Carolina-baser microbrewery, as craft brewers are also known.

The Tarheel State namesake declined to settle the differences amicably, and sought to invalidate Mother Earth Brew Co.’s trademark, said Daniel Love, who co-founded Mother Earth Brew Co. less than two years ago. Owners include Love and his wife along with business partner Kamron Khannakhjavani.

So with help from an investor, the company successfully defended its trademark […]

Filings with the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board from earlier this year show that Mother Earth Brewing sought the cancellation of Mother Earth Brew Co.‘s registered mark and also opposed registration of the pending trademark application of Mother’s Brewing Company.

This past spring’s exposure of a controversial blog post by California-based Mother Earth Brew Co. (“Brew Co.”) illustrated one of the dangers in choosing a brewery name that closely resembles another. Some of the online banter confused that brewery with Mother Earth Brewing (“Brewing”) based in North Carolina and the latter took the initiative to clarify the difference with posts on Beer Advocate and Twitter.

The incident took a twist with the revelation that Brewing filed a cancellation request of Brew Co.’s trademark in September, just two days after the USPTO registered it.

What makes this situation particularly interesting is that Brew Co. initially filed an application for its mark in late 2008. Brewing filed multiple marks with the first not being until early 2009. However, it was Brewing that was out of the gates first with actual product. Brewing constructed its brewery during spring of 2009 and released its first beers to the public in the fall of that year. Mother Earth Brew Co. constructed its brewery in early 2010 and released its beers later that spring.

Complicating matters even further, Mother’s Brewing Company is based in Missouri and filed its application for a mark last May. Mother Earth Brewing filed its opposition in February and Mother’s Brewing Company filed an extension that would give it an extra couple weeks to respond. Judging by the filing status, nothing has changed since that time. Mother’s reps declined to comment on the case.

…and that’s not all.

Meet Mother Road Brewing. This brewery’s trademark application has been suspended (by the TTAB) due to likelihood of confusion with Mother’s Brewing Company and Route 66. To be crystal clear, Mother’s had no direct involvement in the suspension of that application.

When in doubt, do not include the word, “Mother,” in your brewery name going forward.

Mother Earth Brewing Owner, Trent Mooring, was unavailable for comment. Incidentally, he ceased signing brewery blog posts with his initials, TM, last October.

Oh, and how would this post be complete without a little Danzig?